The Minish Cap
by Ancientmask
Summary: After Vaati turned Ezlo into a hat to find the light force, he found memories he never knew he had. Link was having a wonderful day at the festival until Vaati turned his best friend into a statue! When Ezlo met Link, he took a liking to the boy so unlike Vaati. While a big adventure to save the princess goes on in the background, a little act of kindness could change history...
1. Chapter 1: How it all Started

**When I played through The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, I got ideas for this story- it's the first one I've posted on this site, and I'm not really sure if it's a good one or not, so I'm just going to post the first two chapters and see if it turns out to be any good.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: How it all Started**

The day before The Picori Festival, Link sat in a corner of the library, reading 'Legends of the Picori', a favourite book of his. The book explained all about the tiny mouse-like people who'd come from the sky, and how they had helped the Hylians ages ago. Link flipped past most of the pages, until he got to the part with the pictures, which was the original legend. This part read,

'A long, long time ago...

when the world was on the verge of

being swallowed by shadow...

the tiny Picori appeared from the sky,

bringing the Hero of Men a sword and

a golden light.

With wisdom and courage, the hero

drove out the darkness.

When peace had been restored,

the people enshrined that blade with care.'

Link smiled as he read the legend. He was almost certain he'd seen a Picori the other day. Zelda, the princess of Hyrule and his best friend, had agreed with him that one had been there, wearing leaves and a tiny red hat. However, Link's Grandpa Smith had told him he should 'grow up'.

* * *

While Link was reading, in the Minish World, Ezlo was looking everywhere for his red thread- and his needle, too! _(Oh, why did they HAVE to disappear now?!)_ groaned Ezlo to himself, wondering wether Vaati had seen them. Vaati was his apprentice, and Ezlo thought of him as his son. He had very pale lilac fur, lilac hair and blood-red eyes. He also wore an apprentice cape and hat. A tragedy from which Vaati had been the only survivor had brought him to Ezlo's village, and Ezlo had given him a home- unfortunately, every other Minish in the village were not so welcoming. Ezlo was blissfuly ignorant of this.

"VAATI!" called Ezlo, "Have you seen my red thread? Or my needle? As you know, they're very important! VAATI?!"

* * *

Vaati, meanwhile, was heading inside Ezlo's study. The place was filled with books, and sitting on the table at the end was the magic cap Ezlo was making for the humans, as the gate between their worlds opened only once every hundred years. Vaati walked towards the cap- then heard Ezlo yelling nearby. "VAATI! Have you seen my red thread? Or my needle? As you know, they are very important! VAATI?!"

Vaati hesitated for a moment. He had hidden Ezlo's stuff in the cupboard, and was planning to take the powerful cap. As he stared at the red cap with the gold band and the magic jewel, for a moment he felt a bit guilty. Just then, Ezlo came in, only to see Vaati about to put on the cap.

"Vaati! What are you doing there?" He cried as his apprentice put on the cap, turning to face Ezlo.

As Vaati put on the cap, he felt incredible power flowing through him- and his darkest dreams of power and revenge burst straight from his heart... He felt himself transform, right in front of Ezlo's eyes... A monstrous cloak of something dark, like a one-eyed monster, enveloped Vaati as he transformed...

"Oh! What a vile form you've taken!" exclaimed Ezlo.

Vaati was now taller, and looked decidedly Hylian. His hair was longer, and covered his right eye (the one he couldn't see out of- not that Ezlo noticed). The magic cap had fused with Vaati's regular cap, and was now the same deep blue-purple as his cloak. Under the cloak was a blue-purple tunic. Vaati felt a bit hurt when Ezlo said that. But now he could teach HIM a lesson...

"Vile? I am a sorcerer now, and my power is beyond compare! No-one can stop me..." Answered Vaati. He remembered how alone, how helpless he'd been... Now that would change. He felt a strange anger he'd never felt before... a rush of _**rage**_... Had he been too afraid? Too weak? Too timid? Too... _nice?_

"Why, Vaati?" Asked Ezlo, feeling desperate, feeling as if he should already know but didn't... "What are you plotting?"

"This year, on the day that comes but once a century, the portal opens. And when it does, I shall claim the light force as my own. I will be transformed, perfect, and there will be no-one who can stop me..." He used his new power to send a strong curse at Ezlo- a particular spell that not even Ezlo could fight. The idea was that if Ezlo thought he'd gone evil or something, and Vaati had the light force, Vaati could re-start. Be _safe._

When Ezlo saw Vaati attack him, he could barely believe what Vaati was doing. He felt more guilty than angry. _(I... can't bring myself to fight him...)_ Ezlo felt himself transform- "GAAAAH!" He shrieked, feeling as if he were being melded with something else, twisting, changing... - and two seconds later he discovered he was a hat! A HAT!

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed Vaati, feeling a sense of achievement he rarely ever felt. "Tell me, how does it feel, my sorcerer's curse? There is nothing you can do to break it, Ezlo! or to stop me! And with that, I must be leaving." Vaati, getting used to his new form and power, teleported directly to the gate.

Ezlo was devastated. How could he...? How could Vaati have become...? _(I should have seen the signs...)_ Ezlo thought, _(I should have paid more attention to him than that hat... Maybe I deserve to stay like this, but I can't let Vaati get the light force.)_ So, with a bit of difficulty, Ezlo hopped out of the room, blaming himself for what Vaati did, and would do.

* * *

Link closed the book and put it back on the shelf, looking forward to The Picori Festival this year. During that special day of the year, Link always had a lot of fun with Zelda. He'd even managed to enjoy himself two years ago. Even then. Link remembered all those special moments he and Zelda had shared every year...

"Link? Where are you?" Called a familiar voice. Zelda came running into the room, pink dress flowing. "There you are! She cried, "Honestly, aren't you going to help? Nah, of course you will! Come on, come on!" Zelda was dancing with excitement. She grabbed Link's hand and yanked him out of the room. The moment they got out, Link saw everybody in sight decorating, setting up stalls, and practicing music for The Picori Festival. It was all very jolly, and Link could not help but smile as he simply _felt_ everyone's joy. Their happiness made him feel happy too.

Link and Zelda ran around all over Hyrule Town, randomly helping everybody. It was a small town in a small kingdom, so Link knew everybody in town and everybody knew Link. The preparations for The Picori Festival were huge every year, but this year was a particularly special year... The hundredth time this festival had been held. Right after helping various people with their stalls and decorations, they headed to the market square stalls, and helped to decorate and set them up properly. They also said hello to Pina, who was setting up the grand drawing. Soon it was late afternoon, but the two didn't even notice. Just as Zelda was about to sweep Link into a dance practice, Potho came running from the north and Smith came running from the south. The moment he saw Smith, Link knew his moment of fun was over, for his face was like a thundercloud and a volcano rolled into one. However, he felt no true anger- just worry and relief. Link knew that Grandpa Smith was just one of those people who got really cross and\or yelled a lot when they were desperately worried about something or someone (though Link wasn't quite sure _how_ he'd worked it out). Link and Zelda covered their ears.

"LINK! DO YOU _KNOW_ HOW LONG I SPENT LOOKING FOR YOU?!" Yelled Grandpa Smith. His voice echoed all over the area, and a crowed formed to see what was going on. Everybody stared in silence. Even the music stopped! "YOU HAD BETTER COME HOME RIGHT NOW!" He continued. Link looked down to the ground and followed Grandpa Smith down the main path and out of town. As they left, Link looked back, and for a moment he thought he saw a purple figure in the crowd. Just then, he overheard Potho telling Zelda that she had made him worried sick and not to sneak out of the castle. This sort of thing nowadays wasn't exactly rare in these sorts of situations. Grandpa Smith had been a lot more protected and edgy since Link's parents had died two years ago thanks to an accident involving a horse, a delivery and a missing whistle. However, somehow, Link just _understood_ and _felt_ his grandpa's grief and worry, which had been easy to feel because Link felt the grief too.

All the way back to Smith's house, Grandpa Smith explained over and over why Link should not leave the house without permission. Link listened through the whole speech and said nothing. "... and today, I'll be making the sword that will be presented to the winner of tomorrow's sword competition." Concluded Smith. When Link entered the house again, he felt bad for leaving that morning. All he'd wanted was to have a little fun with Zelda. That was all. Link looked back to that morning...

 _"Shh... Wake up quietly!" Zelda had whispered, "I'd like you to come to the Picori Festival Preperations_ _with_ _me! Will you come along?" Link had felt her hope. It was warm, and certain. Link had happily nodded. It had_ _still been early, and Smith was not awake, and wouldn't be for hours. But as they say, time flies when you're_ _having fun, and it hadn't seemed like all that long before Smith had come yelling._

Link followed Smith into the next room and picked up a hammer, making it clear to his grandpa that he was going to help, like he had for the last couple of years. "Fayore knows where he gets that strength from..." Muttered Smith before working on the sword with Link. He appreciated the help.

* * *

Just as Ezlo was hopping out of his office, Vaati re-formed in front of the sparkling portal to The Human World, feeling yet another sense of achievement for for mastering the spell he'd been struggling with only yesterday (mainly because Ezlo was _'far too busy'_ to help).

 _(At last... the portal to The Human World!)_ thought Vaati triumphantly. He walked into the portal, looking forward to what awaited him there... New power, now hope, and the chance never to be afraid, or to hide again... to be _safe._ However, his old master's hurt, even guilty face at that moment still haunted his mind. _(I'll turn him back.)_ Vaati reassured himself. _(Once I have obtained the light force, once I have my new power...)_

 _("But he saved your life!")_ whispered a shy, timid voice inside of him, _("Ezlo accepted you when nobody did! And this is how you repay him? By turning him into a HAT of all things?!")_

Vaati shook his head to rid himself of his inner voice, then quickly realised that everything was big, monstrously big. To his right was a huge pillar about six minish houses tall and four minish houses wide (the one he'd just come through), and in the distant corners of the room were three others just like it. In the centre was a square pillar the three minish houses tall and seven minish houses wide. Vaati closed his eyes and concentrated on making himself big, as big as the humans of the minish legends. When he opened them again, the room seemed a lot smaller. Now it was clear that the pillars from before were pedestals, and the one in the middle was meant for a sword. It took a bit of time for Vaati to get used to seeing the world from a human's perspective, and he was not in a hurry. Past the pedestals were four statues of a faceless hero holding their sword up, almost like an archway. Vaati left the room, then went down a corridor lined with crystals taller than he was. The entire place was just buzzing with an ancient magic, elemental magic and... Something else.

Once he got outside, he found himself in a small, garden-like area. The strange magic was gone. He continued walking forwards, knowing that random teleporting was a very bad idea... After going though yet another doorway, it became apparent that Vaati was in a castle of some sort. None the less, he realised that if he was in a castle, people seeing him was probably not good. So he stared at his hands to check that he was turning invisible, while doing just that, before proceeding through the castle. _(This place is big, even by human standards!)_ thought Vaati, _(But how do I get out of here so I can work my way around this world?)_ At that moment, some of Hyrule's soldiers came walking down the corridor, talking.

"The Picori Festival's on tomorrow! And guess what- the king is letting everybody have a break to enjoy the festivities!" happily announced one. The others, except one, all cheered.

"But we should still keep a lookout for anything strange." Added the one next to him, who hadn't cheered. The others groaned a little.

"Oh, come on, don't be a worrywart..." Sighed the first one, "Let's all help with the preparations," he glared at the other one who'd spoken. " _and_ the patrol, if you insist."

Vaati was intrigued by how similar they were to normal Minish back in The Minish World. Their skin was the same cream colour, and they all had long, pointed ears, just like the minish but a bit smaller. They looked similar to the way Vaati did now, just with said skin colour and with black, brown, blonde, and even red hair. Their eyes were white with coloured or black pupils inside, as opposed to Minish, who usually had a coulor or black with white pupils. However, he felt a familiar little ache inside of him. He was still _different,_ even after his transformation. He followed the soldiers out of the castle, through North Hyrule field (where some stopped at some sort of stage-like area that was being built), until they reached the town.

There were people all over the place, all looking similar to the soldiers, but no one human was the same as another. Vaati could not remember any Minish like him. the furthest back he could remember were a lot of screams and a lot of water, and Ezlo saving his life at the age of three. Suddenly, all of Vaati's guilt for turning Ezlo into a hat came back- before he squashed those feelings and became visible again. After all, he wouldn't want to pass out. He got a lot of strange looks as Vaati wondered around, watching humans setting up stalls, decorating houses and practicing dances and playing festive music. The humans were all talking excitedly about this 'Picori Festival' which was going on the next day. Eventually, Vaati found a poster stuck to someone's house advertising a sword fighting competition. Now Vaati was glad he'd learned how to read human as well as understand and speak it! The poster read,

'Annual Picori Festival Sword Fighting Competition!

Join in with our festive competition between the swordsmen

of Hyrule! Whoever wins gets a sword handmade by Master

Smith himself and gets the right to approach the legendary Picori

Blade, sealed with the Bound Chest! Rules: You must be over fifteen

years old to join, and you must have some experience in swordplay.

We will provide you with safe, wooden swords. NOT FOR BEGINNERS!

Sign up at the post office if you want to join in or buy tickets.'

It was the part about the Picori Blade which caught Vaati's eye. He had done much research about the humans and the gifts the Minish had given them. The sacred blade had been one of those gifts, the light force being the other. Just _why_ the humans called it the Picori Blade was a mystery, but most likely (though Vaati could not be sure) the light force would be in that 'Bound Chest'! Something deep down told Vaati that _something_ wasn't right and that he shouldn't open that chest... But he ignored it. Vaati knew that, with his magic, he could easily win the human's little contest, despite only being thirteen years old. Humming along with the festive music, Vaati set off to find the post office. For the first time, he barely noticed people staring at him.

Along the way to the post office, right in the centre of town, Vaati suddenly heard a very loud voice yelling, "LINK! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I SPENT LOOKING FOR YOU?!" His voice echoed all over the area. Even the music stopped! Everyone, including Vaati, turned and stared silently at the spectacle. A messy-haired boy was standing in front of a cross-and-tough-looking old man. "YOU HAD BETTER COME HOME RIGHT NOW!" Continued the loud yeller. Vaati did not really understand what was going on, but something inside of him felt a little sorry for the boy called 'Link' -he himself would not bear that situation- and for a moment, Vaati thought the boy looked in his direction as the loud yeller led him away from the festival preparations. Vaati relaxed a bit as people started talking and walking around a bit. _(At least,)_ he thought, _(that spectacle took people's eyes off me.)_ He continued to walk up town, past the giant bell, remembering he had seen a place labeled 'post office' up there. Hopefully he wouldn't have to _say_ he was fifteen... Just _write_ it.

* * *

A few minutes after Vaati left the portal, Ezlo hopped right out of his house. Since people thought it might rain -a serious hazard for the minish- everyone was indoors. Which happened to be a good thing, because the longer he spent explaining, the longer Vaati had to find and take the light force. _(Curse this stupid curse...)_ Crossly thought Ezlo as he hopped towards the portal to The Human World. Even though he was getting used o it, it was still tiresome to have to hop everywhere. He soon went inside the portal himself, and reached the same place Vaati had quite a bit earlier. He hoppped all the way through the castle until he heard voices. Having made himself the size of a regular human hat (Imagine how freaked out people would be if he tried much larger) earlier, Ezlo tried to make himself invisible, only to discover that Vaati's curse limited his power too. So he just went limp on the floor as two humans, who were talking, came along. They were soldiers of the castle, talking about The Picori Festival. One was holding a mug of some beverage and a spear. The other just had a spear. Both of them wore armour and a green under tunic.

"I heard the king is gonna give us all a break tomorrow so we can enjoy the festival!" Exclaimed the one with the drink.

"Wow, really? That's nice of him!" Replied the other one.

"Yeah, do you and your kids want to come and watch the sword fighting competition with me this year?" Offered the first one before taking a sip of his drink.

"Sure, thanks mate." Agreed the other one. Then he noticed Ezlo lying limp on the floor. "Hey, look! That's one strange hat." He said, pointing him out to the other soldier. "You think it's okay to if I take it? My kids are doing a hat stall for The Picori Festival and they're gonna need the hats..."

"Sure, I think it's fine." Confirmed the first soldier, bending down to take a closer look at Ezlo and nearly spilling his drink in the process, "If you look closely, you can see it's been outside."

"So it has!" Agreed the other one, bending over to look at Ezlo too. It was taking all of Ezlo's concentration not to tell them how rude they were being. Then the soldier without the drink picked Ezlo up and hung him over his arm. The two soldiers then continued on their way, trading stories about The Picori Festival. This was just embarrassing. Ezlo, the famous sage, Ezlo, the one people had _respect_ for, turned into a _HAT_ by his own apprentice and and currently being transported by a soldier... Surely, SURELY this day could not get any worse...

Soon after, the soldier met up with two little kids near a tree in North Hyrule Field. One was a boy, the other a girl. Ezlo was feeling pretty dizzy from being swung around too much and he'd been dropped of the floor TWICE along the way! "Hi Jack! Hi Molly!" greeted the soldier holding Ezlo, "I found this odd hat for your hat shop!" The two kids started talking at once, and the boy -Jack- took Ezlo and dropped him in a cart full of hats while the girl -Molly- was saying, "I saw a picori in the woods yesterday!"

 _(What's a picori?)_ wondered Ezlo, also thinking that the cart was a better arrangement that being carried by someone, though it was too spacious for Ezlo's tastes.

"You mean the tiny people of the fairy tales?" gently asked the soldier with the drink.

"Yes! They're real! I saw one wearing leaves and a tint red hat!" insisted Molly.

The soldiers shared a look and Molly's dad replied, "Well, maybe next time I'll see one!" then smiled at her. She smiled back. It was obvious to Ezlo that the ssoldiers did not believe in the Picori -who may even be the minish- but that didn't matter right now. What did matter was fining these picori. These could have been the descendants of minish who stayed behind in The Human World, in which case Ezlo could ask them for help! He hopped out of the cart, this new plan all set out in his head, and he set off towards a lot of trees in the distance- most likely the woods Molly spoke of. Ezlo sighed. This was going to take a good while...


	2. Chapter 2: The Picori Festival

**This chapter is (so far) the longest chapter in this story, and all the chapters won't be this long, probably. Also, some things in this chapter don't happen in the game, and there will be other things in this story I've changed. Things that don't make sense will make sense later, so,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Link had a great time helping people out with his best friend, Zelda. Meanwhile, Vaati put his plan to get the light force into action and stole Ezlo's powerful cap, releasing something dark from within himself and turning Ezlo into a bird-like hat. This didn't stop Ezlo from hopping off to The Human World after him to try and stop him getting the light force! However, Vaati himself was feeling both guilty for and proud of what he did, and he wasn't beyond cheating to try and win the sword fighting tournament..._

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Picori Festival**

 _Cold. Cold. Why this cold, at the end of this daily nightmare?_

His final dream-thought, always at the end, in the never ending cold. At this point, he always got woken up, or woke himself up.

"Link, time to get up!" Came Grandpa Smith's voice from downstairs. Link bolted out of bed, glad to be awake. He quickly got changed, taking his clothes out of a wooden box he'd never unpacked (It didn't _feel_ right, and besides, he didn't have a wardrobe yet), before getting dressed and going downstairs to the room where Smith was. He wasn't surprised to see Zelda there too. "Hey! Link!" said Grandpa Smith, "Princess Zelda is here. She'd like to know wether you'd like to join her at the festival!"

"Yeah, Link!" added Princess Zelda, "Come on! Let's go check out the festival together! Master Smith already gave me permission to take you!"

"Yes, after all, the festival only comes once a year. Go on, have fun!" agreed Smith. "And while you're there, you can do me a favour. I just finished making this sword for the minister at Hyrule Castle. I'd like you to deliver it to him." Link smiled and accepted the blade, He put it on his back in order to make sure it wouldn't get lost, after all it was a very important delivery. Link wondered why his grandpa never went to the festival. "This is the blade that will be presented to the winner of the competition. Don't lose it. And while the two of you may be childhood friends, remember... Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule. You watch her. Don't let anything bad happen to her."

"Master Smith, quit worrying! We'll be perfectly safe!" reassured Zelda, "Come on, Link! Let's go check out the festival!" She ran out of the house. Link was just about to follow her when Grandpa Smith called after him, "Don't forget to pack a packed lunch!" Link turned around and nodded before packing a packed lunch in the other room, then rushing out after Zelda. What had happened the day before had been completely forgotten by both Link and his grandpa, and would remain forgotten.

"Link, over here!" called Zelda, bouncing up and down in excitement. Link ran over to her, but she dashed off again, calling, "Over here! Come on! Hurry up!" Link felt her pure excitement. Link's own excitement was nothing compared to how excited Zelda could get sometimes, especially during The Picori Festival! He caught he up a the entrance to Hyrule Town. Even from here, he could hear the festive music! "Well, here we are!" Announced Zelda, "The town of Hyrule!" She rushed inside, Link following. "Here we are, Link! Doesn't it look fun?" Asked Zelda, "Come on! Let's look around!" She ran off, with Link running right behind her. They looked all over town. There were banners, streamers, and balloons all over town! There were all kinds of stalls run by all sorts of people, and it was all very colourful, fun and noisy! Link and Zelda went all over the festival!

"Oooh! Look at all these cute hats!" cried Zelda when they found Jack and Molly's hat stall.

"Look! Picori figurines! Aren't they sweet?" chattered Zelda when they found a stall run by Carlov. The little figurines were tiny, about the size of Link's thumb, and they were wearing little red hats and coats made of leaves. They were mouse-like, with long, pointy ears and feather-like tails. Their comparatively large eyes were black\ green\ blue\ brown with white pupils- just like the picori Link had seen the other day!

"Do you like them? I made them based off little Molly's description of them!" Explained Carlov.

Soon after that, Zelda swept Link into a huge festive dance, where they twirled and stumbled their way to the centre of town, where they talked to Joe, a regular at the sword fighting competition. "You're that boy from old Master Smith's place aren't you?" He said when he saw Link. Zelda had run off somewhere nearby. "I'm sure you know this, but he's the best sword smith Hyrule's ever seen! Every year, I enter the tournament trying to win that sword of his. I haven't won yet, but maybe this time I will! This year's tournament is in the east of North Hyrule Field. Do come along and watch!" Link nodded as he felt Joe's hope and excitement for the tournament.

"Link, there's a storyteller here!" Called Zelda, "We should stop and listen to- oh! I wonder what's over there..." She ran off again, soon with Link right behind her. She was talking to old man Roberts in the corner.

"Only once every hundred years does the mystic doorway open. This is the door that links The Human World to The World of the Picori. When this door opens, the picori can enter our world. And guess what! This marks the hundredth year since they last appeared here! I'm sure something wonderful will happen at this festival!" he was saying.

"So the picori _are_ real! My father always told me they were." Chattered Zelda. "Oh! Look at that!" Link and Zelda ran off after each other again. So far, this had been the most wonderful day of Link's life! Zelda always had managed to make every festival even better than the last... Zelda entered Pina's grand drawing, and Pina rang her loud bell.

"We have a winner!" She announced, "Oh my! Princess Zelda! You've won the grand prize in our drawing? Wow! You get your choice of any of these wonderful prizes. Which will it be?" Link felt happy for Zelda as Pina put out the prize choices. "First we have... this lovely heart-shaped stone!" The stone was large, and in a silver casing. "Next we have... this magnificent gem!" The gem was like a giant red rupee! "And finally there's... This teeny-tiny shield." The small shield was shiny, and it looked very tough. "So, which will it be? The gem? Oh, but the heart stone is very pretty too. Choose whichever one you'd like!" Link thoght Zelda deserved a prize for herself. He wondered what she'd pick...

"The shield is so adorable! I think I'll take it." said Zelda. Link felt Pina's frustration and realisation when she said that.

"What? Why? Why would you want that ugly thing?! What about the heart stone? It's cute? Or the gem? It's pretty! Honestly, they're both much better than that ugly sheild thing." However, Link felt Zelda's firmness come in, the firmness of a princess.

"Nope! I want the shield. Can I have it?" Asked Zelda, innocently.

"What a strange princess you are..." Sighed Pina, giving up, "Well, okay. Here's your teeny-tiny shield." Zelda picked up the shield as Pina put the other prizes away. She instantly smiled at Link, eyes sparkling.

"Here! I want to give you a present!" said Zelda, handing him the shield, "Doesn't this shield suit you perfectly?" Link was surprised and happy. This really was the best day of his life so far! He really liked the shield, so he tried it out. "Just as I thought!" Announced Zelda, pleased that Link liked it. "You look great! Now, if anything happens, you can protect me with that shield! Oh, I almost forgot, we need to take Master Smith's sword to the castle. Let's go, Link."

Link put the shield on his back with the sword and left for the castle, Zelda following behind. As he left, Link saw the strange purple person again. But this time, he felt the purple person's...

 _Loneliness. Guilt. **Rage**. Self-conciousness. Pride._

Link left for the castle, wondering about the mysterious purple person.

* * *

That same morning, Vaati woke up in Hyrule's inn. He was glad the humans used the same currency minish did- rupees.

"Did you enjoy your stay?" Asked the human running the inn.

"Yes." Replied Vaati.

Outside, everything was decorated with banners, streamers, ribbons, bows and bells; people were playing and dancing to the festive music and yet Vaati felt not a shred of happiness, or excitement, or joy, or anything like that. The day before, Vaati had signed up for the tournament which he thought may lead him to the light force. However, there was still some time before the competition started, so Vaati looked around a bit. He walked around, taking in all the bright-coloured stalls and pretty ribbons. It was terribly noisy- he'd never seen anything like it! As usual, he got a lot of strange looks, and Vaati tried to ignore them but still felt a bit self-concious. Along the way, near the centre of town, Vaati heard a girl's voice call out, "Come on! Let's look around!" Next Vaati saw a small human in a pink dress run off, and the messy-haird boy called Link run off after her. He laughed a little. Those two were strangely amusing!

After that, Vaati wandered down the east of Hyrule Town, looking at some of the stalls. A little way down, Vaati spotted a stall which caught his eye. This stall was run by a brown-haird man, and on the table were little figurines of the Minish! Vaati went a bit closer. Each of the figurines were slightly different, but yet the same. Some were holding clovers, or flowers. Others had coloured eyes or hair showing under their hats. Brown hair, blonde hair, even red hair. No purple. The old ache of being _different_ returned. Vaati tried to get rid of it, but it wouldn't go away.

"Oh, I see you're interested in my picori figurines!" said the stall-owner. "They're based directly off my friend's daughter's descripion off one she said she saw in Minish Woods!"

"Picori?" Asked Vaati. The figurines were clearly of the minish.

"Surely you've heard of them, right? The tiny people smaller than your thumb who helped the hero years ago?" prompted the stall-owner.

"Ahh... Okay." Said Vaati. "Where I come from, they're called the minish." He left before he got anymore bad memories of years ago. This time, he cut throgh the centre of town, where a fat lady with a bell was running a drawing, and there were a few crowds of people. Vaati went to the west of town, where there were people dancing. However, some people tended to stay out of his way for _'some reason'._

He soon reached a river and stepped back as he vividlly remembered an old memory from many years ago...

 _Splashing. Giant drops, double the size of boulders._

 _Water, a river, washing away the home he would never know._

 _Struggling. Sinking. Splashing. Screaming._

He shivered and quickly walked away from the river. He next headed towards the north of Hyrule, as it was the way to the sword fighting tournament. Just then, as he was passing the giant bell archway, a loud ringing was heard. Then a fairly loud voice calling, "We have a winner!" The voice belonged to the fat woman. Vaati and a lot of other people came closer to see what was going on. A few people stopped talking as the woman announced the winner. "Oh my! Princess Zelda! You've earned the grand prize in our drawing? Wow! You get your choice of any of these wonderful prizes. Which will it be?" Vaati saw that the girl in the pink dress that he'd seen earlier was Princess Zelda. Link seemed happy for her. So did the lady. And everybody else. Vaati didn't even try to be happy for her. He didn't know how. The woman put out the prizes while announcing them. "First, we have... this lovely heart-shaped stone! Next we have... this magnificent gem! And finally there's... this teeny-tiny shield. So, which will it be? Let me guess... The gem? Oh, but the heart-sone is pretty too. Choose whichever one you'd like!"

Well. Vaati thought the woman's guess was pretty accurate. He hadn't expected Zelda to say- "The shield is so adorable! I think I'll take it."

"What?! Why? Why would you want that ugly thing?!" Asked the woman, dropping the act. "What about the heart-stone? It's cute! Or the gem? It's pretty! Really, they're both much better than that ugly shield thing."

"Nope! I want the shield. Can I have it?" Asked Zelda, innocently.

"What a strange princess you are..." Sighed the woman, giving up. "Well, okay. Here's your teeny-tiny shield." The woman handed Zelda the shield before putting the rest of the prizes away. People started talking after that, but Vaati noticed the princess give the shield to Link as a present. That boy seemed so delighted by that little gift... humans sure were intriguing. Vaati turned around to go when a voice shouted behind him, "Hey! Wait up!" Vaati turned to face this person, a human man. "Are you participating in the sword fighting competition?"

"Yes." Vaati replied.

"Well, it's in lower east North Hyrue Field. They've set up a stage and everything! My name's Joe. I've been entering that competition regularly for years now! What's your name?"

"Vaati." Vaati replied, wondering where this conversation was going.

"Do you want me to show you where the tournament is? It's just that you don't seem to be from around here..." Offered Joe.

"Sure, thanks." Replied Vaati, relived he wouldn't have to risk getting lost. Vaati followed Joe out of town, passing Link along the way, and into Hyrule field. When they went to the right, a bunch of seats were set out behind a stage. In front of the stage was a neat row of eight chairs, all labeled. Some people were already on said chairs. Right at the end of the row, there was a chair labeled, 'Joe Parry'. Next to it, someone was sitting on a chair, looking at Vaati. The chair next to it was labeled, 'Vaati Nightshade'. Vaati sat down.

"So, you're Vaati, right?" Asked the person next to Joe. "I'm Mike. Where do you come from?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering too!" Added Joe.

Vaati thought carefully about his answer. He couldn't exactly tell them the truth... "Rico Pico Picor." [Sunvale Village] It just burst out. The name of Vaati's village... in Minish.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't catch that." said Mike.

"Niether did I." added Joe.

"Um... I'm not sure how it translates into your language." Explained Vaati. That was the safest answer, he figured. It wasn't like he could lie. Soon after, a small, old man with a big white moustache and round glasses arrived on the stage.

"Ahem. I'm sure you all know the rules, but I'll go over them." He announced.

* * *

Also that morning, Ezlo was feeling incredibly grumpy at the fact that he was hopping everywhere, and that it was taking ages AND he'd had to sleep in a bush. A BUSH! It was either that or risk being chewed or stepped on by all the cows around here, neither of which was very appealing. So now he was hopping south, hoping to reach the woods. Soon, he overheard a voice nearby. "Epona, we've got a delivery today!" It was a sing-song girl, talking to her horse. Ezlo felt relieved. he, like all minish, could speak to animals! Maybe Epona would be willing to help him. The girl left, presumably to get the delivery, and Ezlo carefully hopped over to the horse, Epona.

"Escuse me, but could you please take me to the forest?" he asked.

"I must be daydreaming," snorted the horse, "a hat is talking to me."

"NO, no, a sorcerer called Vaati turned me into this! Please believe me!" Explained Ezlo.

"Fine, I'll believe you. It doesn't matter wether I'm daydreaming or not anyway. I'll get in trrrrouble if I take you to the forest, but I'm going part the way there, and I can drop you off near the entrrrrance." Said Epona.

"Thank you very much." Replied Ezlo.

"Okay, now when Malon- the girrrrl- gets back, jump into the deliverrrry wagon. I'll tell you when to get off, I'lll even stop forrrr a second!" Instructed Epona.

A couple of minutes later, Malon came back with the delivery cart. She attached it to Epona's saddle, and Ezlo hopped in it while Malon got on Epona.

"She's an excellent rrrrider." Neighed Epona approvingly, "Unlike _someone_ I know. HE rrrrides like a sack of potatoes."

The ride was actually very pleasant, despite Ezlo's only companions in the cart being bottles of 'Lon Lon Milk'. Ezlo enjoyed the veiw, and hid whenever Malon looked back. Epona made sure the journey wasn't a rattly one, and Ezlo felt quite relaxed. All along the way, Malon was singing a tune Epona liked. Ezlo liked it too. Also, Epona decided to talk about a not-so-nice incident two years ago. (Random Story Fact: Epona half-thought Ezlo being there was her imagination, and she just wanted to talk about it with the first person who'd listen.)

"You see, the rrrrreason why I can't rrrrisk getting in trrrrouble is because of two years ago. I didn't mean to, but two humans were killed!" Explained Epona. "I was going along this very path, when some of those rrrrowdy dogs nearby really scared me. I freaked out, and those dogs made it worse with their horrrrrrible barking! Malon couldn't find her whistle, because she had put it in the cart was rrrrampaging with me. Some people were sitting nearby, A man and a woman, talking about theirrrrr son. They were blocking the only place where the dogs weren't barrrking, and I didn't rrrrreally notice they were there until it was too late!"

"Ah... I'm sorry to hear that." replied Ezlo, really quietly so Malon wouldn't hear.

"You know, it feels good to be able to TELL someone these things. The dogs are mean, the cuccos are stupid, the cows don't listen and humans can't understand me! I'm lucky I didn't get sold for that incident!" Finished Epona.

Ezlo wondered who the unlucky boy was or if any minish had been affected. Thinking about sons got him thinking about Vaati. The truth was, Ezlo was worried about him, even though he'd turned him into a hat. A hat. Why a hat? Was there a reason? Nah- he was over thinking it.

"Jump off now!" neighed Epona, stopping, "Thanks for listening!"

"What's wrong, girl? Why are you stopping?" Asked Malon to Epona.

Ezlo took the chance and jumped off, before calling, "Picou!" [Thank you!] to Epona.

"You'rrrre welcome!" she replied, before moving on, much to Malon's confusion. Ezlo, grateful for Epona's help, hopped towards a bridge that led into Minish Woods. Actually, he was getting used to the whole 'hopping' thing. _(Perhaps it's good exercise!)_ thought Ezlo, _(I certainly feel more lively!)_ Ezlo was now hopping across the bridge. on the other side was a lush green forest... It was beautiful. Ezlo, however, realised that finding Minish in a forest as big as Hyrule Town (The wall had been there all along the journey with Epona) was going to be hard...

* * *

Outside Hyrule Castle, in North Hyrule Field, once the purple person had passed by, Zelda, still excited about the sword fighting competition said "Come on, Link! Let's hurry to the castle!" As usual, Zelda rushed ahead and Link just about followed. The two of them passed the sword fighting competition preparations (What a mouthful!) along the way. When Link caught up to her, a deku scrub and a bunch of small trees were blocking the path to the castle. The deku scrub spat a nut at Zelda, and the nut hit her bang on the shoulder. "Owwch!" said Zelda. "That must be the business scrub I heard the soldiers talking about. They were saying a deku scrub was hassling all the passerby... Link, do something about it! Otherwise, we can't get to the castle!"

While Zelda was talking, the deku scrub had shot another nut at her, and Link had defended her with his shield, causing the deku scrub's own nut to whack it in the face. So when she stopped talking, the deku scrub was dizzy thanks to its own nut and apologising, "Please, forgive me, sir! I heard there was a festival, and I came to town hoping to hawk my wares. Unfortunately, we scrubs have a tendency to spit nuts as we speak! Everyone got scared and ran away, and no-one would buy anything!" The scrub's frustration was growing and its somewhat squeaky voice went a bit higher, "This is a terrible place to do business! I'm going back to my cave!"With that, the scrub and the small trees popped underground in a puff of white dust. Admittedly, a cave didn't sound much better for business.

Zelda looked back at Link. "I actually feel a little sorry for that business scrub. But that nut hurt!" Link could feel Zelda's forgiveness. "Oh well! It won't be hassling anyone now! We'd better hurry to the castle!" Zelda followed Link all the way there, where Minister Potho was waiting for them.

"Oh! Link! You brought the sword, did you?" Asked Minister Potho. Link handed the sword over to him. "Then, as minister to the king of Hyrule, I, Potho, accept this blade. You came just in time. Follow me to the sword fighting competition, you two!"

They followed him right back down the path they'd come up. The sun was shining, everybody nearby was happy or some variation of happy, and Link could not imagine how this day could get any better.

"Guess what?" chattered Zelda, "I saved front-row seats for us! I know how much you like sword fighting, as long as no-one gets hurt, and I hope you enjoy it!"

"You t-too!" replied Link, so happy his voice burst out- a rare occasion. "Thank you f-for today."

Zelda smiled back, eyes sparkling with happiness and excitement. When they got to their seats, Link noticed the purple person sitting among the eight competitors, near Mike and Joe- rivals and regulars. Among the competitor's hope, excitement, and focus, the purple person's unexcited purpose and self-concisnous stood out like a sore thumb. "Where do you think that purple guy comes from?" whispered Zelda as Minister Potho stood on the stage, silencing everyone.

"Ahem. I'm sure you all know the rules, but I'll go over them." Began Minister Potho, reading off a bunch of cards in his hands, "Rule one: Use only your wooden sword. Rule two: I will announce the match-ups. Whoever knocks the sword out of their opponent's sword first wins. Rule three: All sword fighting must be on this stage only. If a competitor leaves the area, they're out. Rule 4: No magic allowed. Not everyone can do it, so it would be unfair if we allowed it. Anyone who is caught using magic will be out immediately. Rule five: Have fun!" Minister Potho grinned. "Now that I've gone over the rules, I, Minister Potho, will introduce the competitors. Competitors, please stand up when your name is called. First, we have Mira [Meer-ra] Lisan [Lee-san], who has just returned from her training at Mount Crenel!" Everyone, as well as Link and Zelda clapped and cheered.

A tall woman with long black hair, which was tied up in a ponytail, and wearing a professional-yet-a-bit-scuffed-up-looking fighting outfit, stood up and gave the crowd a look before sitting back down. She was clearly not someone to be messed with.

"Next, we have Bizzie Amur [A-mer], who is a newcomer to our competition, and LIzzie Amur, twin sister of Bizzie, who is also a newcomer!"

Bizzie and Lizzie were teenagers who were nearly identical to each other, except Bizzie's eyes were blue and Lizzie's were green. Both had short-ish red-orange hair. They gave the crowd a bow before sitting back down.

"Fourth, we have Tom Crew, a regular at the competition who got first place last year! Will he do it again?"

Tom had black hair and black eyes, and he was wearing a very brightly-coloured top and trousers that contradicted each other- mainly what had thrown his opponents off guard last year, when Mira wasn't there, was his aggrasiveness. He bowed to the audience before sitting down.

"Fifth, We have another regular, who got second place last year... Pyra [Pie-ra] Jones!"

Pyra had very short blond hair and deep orange eyes. Link found the colour a bit unnerving at times. She sat down as soon as the crowd started cheering.

"And now, I am introducing... Vaw-tee? Vay-tee? Vat-tee?-"

"It's pronounced VAH-TEE!" interjected Vaati, crossly.

"-Vaati Nightshade, a mysterious traveller from an unknown land!" continued Potho, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Vaati, who was the purple person, stood up a bit awkwardly to the crowd's polite clapping and soon sat down again.

"Next, we have Mike Wallow, known rival and friend of Joe's!"

Mike wore a red t-shirt and orange trousers, and had yellow-orange hair and brown eyes. He gave the crowd a cheerful smile before sitting back down, still smiling.

"And last but not least, we have... Joe Parry!"

Joe was well-known for entering and losing every year, so well known that no-one bothered to write it on the cue cards anymore. He always wore his yellow top and white trousers for this competition, and he had dark brown hair and black eyes. He smiled and waved at he crowd as the stood up and sat down again.

"Now that I've announced the competitors, I will now announce the first match... Vaati vs. Mike!"

While Minister Potho was talking, Vaati was absorbing temporary knowledge from the wooden sword and making it tougher using magic. Using these two advantages of magic, Vaati knew he would win despite never having used a sword before in his life- that he could remember, something told him otherwise. He really didn't enjoy being in the centre of attention all that much... he focused on his opponent instead as he went onto the stage as Minister Potho got off the stage. He held his sword in his left hand, while Mike held it in his right.

Link felt Vaati's calm purpose and Mike's rushed over-exsitement. It was clear to him who would win this match.

Mike rushed towards Vaati, sword outstretched, and Vaati simply stepped to the side, nearly causing Mike to fall off the stage and get himself out. However, Mike quickly regained his balance and began a series of sword slashes, all that Vaati blocked while using a basic form of magic to strengthen his grip. A second later, Vaati twisted his sword in an upward manner and sent Mike's sword flying up into the air then crashing to the ground- and all this happened in record time!

"Vaati wins! Mike is out!" Announced Potho.

"Good game!" Said Mike, offering Vaati a handshake. Vaati did not recognise the gesture and was about to return to his seat when a voice from the front row whispered, "Y-You shake it." Vaati knew he could trust it. He gently shook Mike's hand. Then the two of them returned to their seats.

The voice had been Link, sitting in the front row, glad he could help.

"Whoa! I wasn't expecting that!" said Zelda, "It was so nice of you to help Vaati, Link! I'm sure he must be new to Hyrule."

"Ahem..." Came Minister Potho's voice. The crowd silenced. "The next match is... Lizzie vs Bizzie!" The two both sighed. Link felt their reluctance. However, they got up there and began to battle it out, smiling all the way. Link was soon feeling their joy, and his own. The two were evenly matched and the battle went on for more than an hour! Wooden sword clashed against wooden sword, and not even Link or Vaati could tell the difference between the near identical twins. Eventually, Minister Potho announced, "It's a tie! You're both still in! Now let's get on with the next match- Mira vs Joe!" The twins got off the stage, Mira and Joe got on it.

"Good luck!" said Joe.

"You too." Replied Mira.

Link felt Mira's strong sense of purpose, similar to Vaati's, and her deep inner focus. He felt Joe's excited lack of seriousness. Once again it was clear who would win.

Vaati watched the other competitors carefully, tracking and learning the way they fought and their weaknesses, patiently waiting the twins' match out and now carefully, closely watching Mira and Joe's match.

Mira had Joe stuck defending and it was clear that her training on Mt. Crenel had paid off. It was obvious that Joe paid more attention to rule five than anything useful. Sure enough, Joe was defeated generally quickly. He and Mira did the 'good game' and handshake thing Vaati was unfamiliar to.

"Mira wins, Joe's out." said Minister Potho. "Now, there are six competitors left. Everybody, you can go get a snack because it's the break!" Then he muttered, "I could sure use one..." The crowd of people left, and Link and Zelda walked over to the competitors in order to congratulate the ones who had fought and wish good luck to those that hadn't. They were all already going their separate ways, but Zelda and Link managed to catch up to them.

"Wow, Mira, you fought really well!" Squealed Princess Zelda.

"Thanks." She replied, "It seems you've started a two-person fan club."

However, when they got to Vaati, Zelda insisted that Link do some of the talking this time.

Meanwhile, Vaati was wandering nearby, not really sure what to do during the break. He'd just made the decision to look around North Hyrule Field a bit more when Link and Zelda came running up to him. "Go on, Link!" Whispered Zelda, "Just say hello or something!"

When Link, trying to be polite, made eye contact with Vaati, he felt Vaati's feelings again...

 _Self-conciousness. Purpose. Confusion. Unnerved._

But then, he felt as if he were staring deeper, past the red eye he could see...

 _A deep ache inside. Deficiency. Lonliness. Wonder. Patience. Cruelty. Malevolence. Timidness._

 _Guilt. Pride. Longing._ _Missing someplace, someone. Curiosity. Kindness. Fear. **Rage.** Confliction._

Link felt as if he _was_ Vaati for that short moment of time. In that moment, he'd felt everything Vaati was feeling, he'd even picked up bits of his personality.

In that same moment, Vaati felt recognised Link but not his special ability. However, he had the unnerving feeling that Link had been staring into his deepest emotions, and had even felt his personality...

"What are you looking at?" He asked, guessing (correctly) that Link didn't realise what he was doing. Link snapped out of it and his cheeks went rose-pink in embarrassment.

"S-sorry." apologised Link, "Was I-I being rude?"

"Come on, Link, the contest is starting again!" Called Zelda. Link ran off after her. Vaati found Link's power interesting, but he did not know of it... That got him thinking about Ezlo again as he went back to his seat.

 _"Ezlo, what is that power? How did you do that?"_

 _"By using a power that sleeps within all of us, some more deeply than others."_

 _"Is it... Magic?"_

 _"Some call it that. Some call it-"_

"Now that we've all had a break, we'll be continuing this tournament with Vaati vs Tom!" announced Potho, snapping Vaati out of his thoughts.

"Oh! It's Vaati again! Remember how he beat Mike, Link?" commentated Zelda to Link. Link was thinking about what he'd felt within Vaati, but he didn't understand what had happened. It was confusing to both Vaati and Link.

Vaati calmly walked up to the stage. Tom began the fight by swinging his sword heavily towards Vaati. This time, instead of blocking, he dodged. In the process, he tripped Tom, who was unsteady thanks to the swing, up using tiny whirlwinds that formed on the tips of his fingers. Nobody saw the magic- all they saw was Tom tripping and Vaati knocking the sword out of Tom's hand in literally five minutes flat. Maybe less. An unbeatable record that stands to this day. The crowd gasped in surprise- then leapt to their feet, cheering Vaati's name, led by Princess Zelda herself. She pulled Link up too- by grabbing hold of his hand.

Vaati really didn't like all the attention. It made him nervous. He felt bad for cheating, but he never wanted to be afraid... to feel that _fear_... The light force would give him the power he needed to be stronger than anything he'd ever feared. The power to leave everything behind. He did the shaking hands thing again and sat down.

After that, it was Lizzie vs Pyra, and Pyra won after nearly an hour. Link was soon enjoying himself again while Vaati was carefully working out how to beat whoever was next against him. Both put the incident in the back of their minds.

"And now... Mira vs Bizzie!" announced Potho, who's boredom Link felt. Clearly, Potho was bored of reading cue cards. Sword fighting just wasn't his thing.

Mira's tactics had become very clear to Vaati, but her weaknesses were not so obvious; like clumsiness (Tom) or impulsivity (Mike). However, Mira's fighting seemed a bit stiff somewhere, and perhaps that somewhere was her weakness... Mira defeated Bizzie in the exact same time Pyra defeated Lizzie, down to the last second. Even Potho was getting interested.

"Mira wins, and Bizzie's out! The final three are Pyra, Mira and Vaati!" The crowd cheered. "Next... Pyra vs Mira! Whoever wins will battle Vaati for the rare chance to approach the Picori Blade- and for Master Smith's sword!" More cheering. Zelda cheered loudest of all, and Link clapped loudest (to make up for his lack of cheering).

As the two female sword fighters stepped onto the stage, there were no cheerful 'good luck's, only a hard, determined glare at one another. Link could feel their determination and focus surging through both him and them. Vaati made sure to watch them both carefully.

"Nobody, least of all YOU, is going to stop me winning that sword for my sister!" Hissed Mira to Pyra.

"Nobody, least of all YOU, is going to stop me finally seeing the Picori Blade up close!" Hissed Pyra to Mira.

Vaati, having sharp minish hearing, heard every word. So did Link, as he was connected to their emotions at the time. Nobody else heard a word. The battle began.

* * *

Admittedly, Ezlo was lost. Lost and covered in dirt around the rim. Not to mention annoyed. Vaati was going to get the telling-off of a lifetime once Ezlo found him! But for the moment, he was currently trying to find the minish of the human world, and failing. In fact, he thought he was going around in circles! He was at a very foggy part of the forest, and could not see where he was going. Having no hands, he couldn't feel his way around, so he had slammed beak-first into a tree more than once. That had not been pleasant, considering the effort it took to get himself unstuck from certain trees, and also, he was hungry, very hungry, despite now being a hat...

Ezlo had been lost for hours now, was thinking of shrinking to try and find the minish. However, in his current state, and his magic limited, if he shrunk he might not be able to grow again- which would be very dangerous in a world full of big creatures like cats (Ezlo shuddered at the thought), dogs, humans, cuccos, etc. He eventually found a small, medium-ish puddle that wasn't very deep. To a minish, it would be as large as a swamp, but at his current size, the puddle was perfect for cleaning himself off a bit. Ezlo managed to get the dirt off, and he discovered that he was now rather absorbent- what an odd sensation! On the other hand, this whole situation was a bit odd.

The good news was that he was now clean. The bad news was that he was feeling rather... sloshy. He was finding it harder to move.

So, it didn't really help when monster spirits came barging in out of nowhere two hours later, sending Ezlo flying into a clearing with a stump nearby. Ezlo looked closer at the stump in question. _(A magic amplifier? Hmmm...)_ Thought Ezlo. He left the clearing. soon after, he realised that it was for making minish big or small. That could help. Unfortunately, by then he was lost again, and the place was filled with monsters thanks to that rush of spirits. Weak monsters, but dangerous none the less, particularly as he was a hat at the moment. Ezlo remembered a little chat he'd had with Vaati once concerning offensive magic, or attacking magic.

 _"When will I learn to use attacking magic? When?_ "

 _"When you learn that it is NOT to be used irresponsibly and is only_ _to be used in self-defense in DIRE situations ONLY."_

 _"Aw... How come?"_

 _"If you are not careful, you could kill someone."_

 _"...I don't want to kill..."_

Vaati hadn't asked about it since. But now that Ezlo really thought about it, he had seemed unhappy. Ezlo wondered if he should have asked why. If only he had... no. Now was not the time for regrets. Ezlo hopped along, now more determined than ever to deal with Vaati and fix himself- then apologise for not asking him how he felt more often.

* * *

The battle between Mira and Pyra could only be described as awesome. The two were nearly as good as each other, and now even Link was having trouble remembering who was who in this epic battle. Mira and Pyra were pulling off sword skills that only the best of the best could learn, like the flying-flip-charge-pointy-shell-thingy-majigy that Link could never remember the name of. There were bits of wood all over the stage and Mira and Pyra's swords looked as if they were going to break from all the pressure- they weren't made for such intense battling.

Vaati kept a close eye on them, discerning their tactics and weaknesses. About halfway through the battle, Vaati figured out that Mira had a leg injury and Pyra had an injury in her sword hand. In fact, that injury cost her the tournament. It cramped after a terribly awkward defence from Mira, in turn making her drop the sword.

"Mira wins! Pyra is out! Mira and Vaati will battle in the final round of the tournament!" Announced Potho.

"Second place AGAIN..." sighed Pyra, getting off the stage.

"Maybe next year." Replied Mira as Vaati calmly walked onto the stage- but then Mira whispered, "I'm going to win that sword and you're not going to stop me!"

"I heard you the first time." Replied Vaati.

"I've seen your tactics, Vaati. Whatever you're taught over where you come from, that is not actual swordplay." her eyes narrowed, "I wouldn't be surprised if you were cheating this whole time. Let's see how you do against a real sword fighter!" With that, Mira suddenly began attacking using simple slashes and pointy jabs, nothing fancy in the grand scheme of things. As they were battling, Vaati's eye widened a little, and in his mind's eye he saw an old memory from before the flood, a fragment of what he forgot that day.

 _Two year old Vaati had been sword fighting against a training dummy._

 _He was having fun, yet the training was serious._

 _Vaati's pupils narrowed a bit and his mind focused, then he spun high into the small room..._

Vaati's pupils narrowed a little and his mind focused, and before Mira knew what was happening he spun high into the sky...

 _...and spun on the way down, sword outstretched, faster, faster..._

... and spun on he way down, sword outstretched, faster, faster...

 _... landing with a satisfying THUD, facing the training dummy, which promptly fell to pieces._

... landing with a satisfying THUD, facing Mira, who promptly dropped her sword and held her leg injury.

The crowd, Mira, Minister Potho, Link, Zelda and even Vaati himself were all shocked into complete silence. Vaati's pupils widened again and he had a lot of questions in his head at that moment in time- what was he doing with a real sword at the age of two? What was that thing he'd just done? Where did he learn how to do that? Who had taught him how to do that? What ELSE did he forget all those years ago?

"Are you okay?" asked Vaati to Mira, though he felt no real concern as he knew she'd be fine.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Sorry for being so rude earlier. By the way, where did you learn that move?" She asked, picking up the sword and standing up.

"That's what I'm wondering..." Mused Vaati, eye looking far into the distance.

Now that everybody knew Mira was fine, the crowd cheered even louder than ever before. Vaati felt no victory, only a bit of shame. But he would do whatever it took not to live in fear again...

Link had felt Vaati's remembrance earlier, and now he felt his shame and determination. It was an unusual combination... Link didn't know what he'd remembered, but that he'd remembered something.

"...and the winner of this year's Picori Festival Sword Fighting Competition is... Vaati!" Announced Potho, "Also, Vaati has SMASHED the record time on twenty minutes, setting a new one of four minutes and thirty-six seconds! The award ceremony will be at two-thirty. Fewf... the guy who usually does this must really hate his job..." That last sentence was muttered.

Link found Vaati confusing. Vaati had felt no joy, no excitement and no happiness even as he'd calmly won the contest. So, much to Zelda's surprise, Link walked right up to Vaati and said, "W-well done for winning the c-contest, Vaati!", with a large, genuine smile on his face. Maybe that would help him feel better!

Vaati looked at this messy-haired boy, and his expression softened and he smiled a little at how innocent he seemed. Yet for some reason, the boy's smile faded. "Why d-do you feel no j-joy?" He asked, almost to himself, before running off after his friend.

Vaati wondered about his question, but what he was really interested to know was, _(How did that boy, Link, know I felt no happiness at all?)_ He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and left to find some place where he could get some food.

* * *

"Come on! Hurry! We're going to the castle for lunch! Really, I am personally inviting you!" Excitedly chattered Zelda, dragging Link by the hand (once he'd caught up to her) as the two of them ran all the way to the castle.

When they got there, Link, Zelda, Minister Potho, some of Hyrule's best soldiers, a few castle-keeping people and even King Daltus himself all had lunch in the large dining hall before the awarding ceremony. The lunch itself was delicious. Link's day had just got better. It was wonderful, and though he did wonder about Vaati, Link knew he should enjoy his best friend's hospitality and be polite to the king. King Daltus knew that Link didn't really speak much (though _why_ exactly was anyone's guess, not even Zelda knew) so he did not consider Link rude at all. In fact, Link felt Zelda's excitement, the soldiers' joy, Minister Potho's relaxed feeling... _and Vaati's longing._

"V-Vaati's here." Said Link.

"Where?" asked King Daltus, "I haven't congratulated him on winning the contest yet." Everybody in the room looked around for Vaati, but it was like he was invisible or something. "Are you sure he's here?" Asked the king. Link felt how puzzled he was. Link felt equally confused.

"Oh, I know!" announced Zelda. "Link said he 'felt my happiness' once. Vaati must be nearby, but outside the castle! I think Link can feel his feeling, but he's not in this room!"

"Ah, yes, of course." agreed King Daltus, "See, everyone, this is just what Hyrule needs once she gets older, a clever, young, ruler."

"Besides, if Vaati were in the room, he'd have stuck out like a sore thumb! This room's red, and he's purple; and wears purple!" Pointed out a soldier to another soldier.

Soon, everybody was talking about what fun they'd had at The Picori Festival, and trading stories with one another. Zelda chattered away about what fun she'd had with Link! Soon, Link no longer felt Vaati's feeling.

He just wondered why it was _longing._

* * *

Soon after Vaati saw Link run off, he found a bakery. He bought some food for now and for later (because the baked goods were delicious) then wondered about what to do next, and ended up wandering towards Hyrule Castle. Vaati decided to explore it a bit. After all, maybe he'd want to come back one day. He turned himself invisible and went around the castle, noting all the noticeable parts of the castle such as the throne room, Minister Potho's study (Where the competition prize sword was), and Princess Zelda's room. It was so... pink! Pink and bubbly... something inside Vaati repulsed that room...

He passed several portraits of the king, his ancestors, and a few of Princess Zelda and one of Princess Zelda and Link (who was looking like she'd dragged him in there) both smiling innocently, like that smile Link had given him earlier. Vaati mildly wondered what having a friend was like. Even the teachers at his school had thought he was odd, at the least. And there was nothing else to say about it, Vaati just never really trusted Ezlo. Back then, he wasn't a very trusting person, he still wasn't, but at least his gift would tell him if one was lying, or twisting their words. Well, Ezlo was a hat now.

 _(Strange.)_ thought Vaati, _(Why a hat? Of all the things to turn into... Another thing strange. I barely know the princess and her friend, yet I'm drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Why is that?)_ Vaati pushed his thoughts down again. He had to focus on his goal.

Vaati walked through a nearby door, and found himself in a large dining hall, where Minister Potho, the king, Princess Zelda, Link, some guards and some castle-keeping people were all merrily eating lunch and talking. They all seemed to be having fun. Vaati had seen similar things all around him at school. No-one had ever wanted to sit anywhere near Vaati. This bit of thought got him thinking about _why_ nobody really wanted him there (barring Ezlo). At first it was because he looked _different_...

 _"A purple minish?" "He must be some sort of freak!" "Those red eyes are creepy..."_

...but things got worse when somebody found some legend about purple minish being cursed and unlucky. That had become a rumour, and honestly, even he half-believed it by now. Everybody did, except maybe Ezlo. MAYBE. He was _different_ in other ways too...

Vaati tried to squash his thoughts but only ended up making his old ache and longing stronger. Entranced in a sense, Vaati walked deeper into the room, nearly forgetting he was invisible, listening to people's stories about The Picori Festival.

"Vaati's h-here." said Link.

For a second, Vaati thought his invisibility had worn off and panicked, but he quickly found that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face and calmed down, though the powerful longing was still there.

"Where?" Asked the king, "I haven't congratulated him on winning the contest yet." Everybody proceeded to look around for Vaati, though of course nobody saw him as he was invisible. "Are you sure he's here?" Asked the king, sounding to Vaati a bit puzzled.

"Oh, I know!" announced Princess Zelda, "Link said he 'felt my happiness' once. Vaati must be somewhere nearby, but outside the castle!" Vaati looked to his right and saw a large window overlooking the castle gardens. Luckily, nobody looked over there except him.

"I think Link can feel his feelings, but he's not in this room!" concluded Zelda.

"Ah, yes, of course." agreed the king, "See, everyone, this is just what Hyrule needs once she gets older, a clever, young, ruler."

"Besides, if Vaati were in this room, he'd have stuck out like a sore thumb. This room's red, and he's purple; and wears purple!" pointed out a guard to another guard.

That had been too close. Oh well. Now, he would be able to slip away anyway. Vaati left the room, then the castle, and took a quick walk around the castle gardens then North Hyrule Field. He actually quite liked the sunny weather, as much as he tried to ignore it. After that, he headed back to the courtyard in the castle gardens, where the awarding ceremony was about to begin.

* * *

After the meal, Zelda said, in full 'Princess Mode'; a mode in which Zelda was often very serious and less chatty, as opposed to her 'Zelda Mode'; in which she was very excitable, mischevious and chatty. At least, that's how Link often saw it. He often wondered wether his friend was two people at one!

"I'm sorry, Link, but I'd better go. I have to prepare for the ceremony. I had a good time at the festival! Thanks for coming with me!" She left the dining hall. Soon, the king and everyone else left too. Before Link left the room,

Potho suggested, "Since you're here, Link, why don't you join us for the award ceremony?" Link happily nodded, then followed Potho out of the dining hall, and soon after, out of the castle. Four guards came out after them, holding the Bound Chest and the Picori Blade. "Do you know about that sword, Link?" Asked Minister Potho. Link could feel his seriousness, and that spark of excitement he was hiding so well. "It is called the Picori Blade, and it locks much evil away in that chest. The Picori Blade is sacred to the people of Hyrule."

Link already knew all that. He was excited just to be _this_ close to the blade! Surely the soldiers must realise that guarding it is an honour and a huge responsibility... "Legend has it that, long ago, the picori gave us this blade. Whoever wins it gets the honour of touching the sacred blade." explained Minister Potho. The king and Zelda arrived from inside the castle, dressed in formal, royal clothes.

"Let the award ceremony begin!" Announced Potho, "Vaati, champion of the competition, you may approach the blade!"

Vaat thought that all this formality over a sword was pretty pointless. Well, he'd get the light force at the end. But... something was wrong. Something dark within himself filled his heart as he approached the blade... then a laugh escaped. A satisfied laugh, Link noticed, feeling Vaati's malevolent satisfaction. "Heh heh heh..." Sniggered Vaati, "To think things would go this well!" The truth was, Vaati did have a little habit of talking to himself sometimes... well, who else was he supposed to have talked to, Ezlo? It was happening again, but Vaati was feeling rather strange... he didn't feel like himself, and part of him liked this new, dark, _powerful_ feeling, but another part of him was scared of it, even repulsed by it."The Picori Blade and the Bound Chest of Hylian lore... that chest must hold that which I seek! I'll relive you of its contents now."

No sooner had he said that, then the soldiers rushed towards him, spears at the ready. The first two charged, but Vaati knocked them aside, not even bothering to use magic, sending them flying across the gardens in different directions. "Mmmm ah hah hah!" laughed Vaati, delighted that the soldiers were this weak, powerless against him! He ignored that bad feeling he was getting, enjoying the power he felt flowing through him... "Do not interfere with me... As victor I've earned the right to approach the Picori Blade... I've been waiting for this moment!"

Link was shocked, and felt everyone else's shock too, as well as Vaati's unnatural malevolence and delight. Link could also feel, faintly, _fear_ coming from Vaati. He was also worried that Vaati might hurt somebody else, but what could he do against a powerful person like Vaati?

The other two guards carefully prepared to attack Vaati, but he simply formed a ball of pure defusion magic right at the blade, sending the guards flying and breaking the Picori Blade in two... The monster spirits of long ago caused a huge ruckus as the burst out of the chest all at once, sending everybody flying except for Link; who protected himself with his shield, and Zelda; who was protected by some sort of magical light.

"What are you? Why are you doing this?!" cried Zelda. Link and Zelda were both absolutely terrified. Vaati's eye widened in shock when saw those monsters rush in all directions.

 _(What did I just do?!)_ thought Vaati in shock. However, the currently stronger part of himself felt as if he'd _meant_ for that to happen. That he wished to do _more_ than take the light force... Vaati noticed the mysterious light that protected Zelda, remembering something he'd read about he in the minish legends... His eye narrowed.

"The princess with the mystic aura..." He said ominously, "The power that was gifted to the people of Hyrule still flows within the ladies of the royal family? Interesting... If I leave you now, you'll only cause trouble later. That will never do."

Already, Link felt Vaati's intention... He leapt in front of Zelda, shield ready to block whatever was coming, determined to protect the friend who'd done so much for him...

Vaati focused his mind, never breaking eye contact with the princess, seeing her in his mind's eye as nothing more than a stone statue... "To stone with you!" he shouted, releasing a blast of magic directly at Zelda!

The blast of magic rushed towards Link; who tightened his grip on the shield, expecting the magic to bounce off, but instead the magic shoved Link out of the way and hit Zelda, who screamed before being turned to stone just as Link's head smashed into the ground, knocking him out instantly. He could do nothing but feel other's feelings. Zelda was scared and Vaati was both satisfied and horrified... Soon he felt nothing at all.

Vaati looked down at them. He knew they were both alive. Vaati would do anything but kill for the light force and his ultimate goal... Turning people to stone was relatively convenient. He wished he'd thought of that earlier, as Ezlo could still be a nuinsance, even as a hat.

"Heh heh heh... All who stand in my way shall share this fate!" He said to himself, "Now, to find out what power awaits me in this chest!" He walked over to the chest and leaned in, only to see... "?!"

...nothing. "Empty? There was nothing in there but a rabble of monsters?" Vaati took a moment to process this. That bad feeling, how could he have been so stupid? It must have been his gift trying to warn him about the monsters! Then why did he feel as if he _wanted_ this to happen?! "What is the meaning of this?" he asked himself. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now... he was feeling like himself again. The strange, dark feeling was gone and whatever that memory was, it was all in the past now. "Well, I know the force I'm after is out there somewhere. I'm in no hurry, I can take my time searching for it. Pleh heh heh..." He laughed again before teleporting away.

* * *

 _Cold. Cold. Why this cold, at the end of this daily nightmare?_

Link suddenly woke up, having felt that strange cold at the end of the nightmare without even experiencing the nightmare. What a curious feeling...

"Oh, thank goodness!" Cried Mrs Thaip, the friendly castle-keeper. "You've awakened! Master Smith is here as well. He's come to see his majesty the king, but he's very worried about you!"

Link headed outside the door, feeling rather worried himself about whoever else Vaati thought might get in his way... He went out of the room and into the throne room, and walked to Grandpa Smith.

"Oh, Link, you're awake. Are you feeling all right?" he asked. Link nodded. "Stand at my side. The king of Hyrule is about to speak."

"It is as you have all heard." gravely explained the king. Potho was to his right and Zelda had been moved to his left. There were a lot of soldiers in front of him, and Link and Smith were standing to the side, side by side. The king addressed everyone in the room. "A sorcerer called Vaati has cursed my fair Zelda and turned her into stone. If we had the sacred Picori Blade, we likely could have broken the curse. But Vaati shattered the blade... however, I have not given up hope. What do you know about the Picori?" This question was directed at Grandpa Smith.

"The Picori?" Asked Smith, confused. "Not much, beyond what the fairy tales say... They're supposed to be very tiny, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Yes, the ones from the fairy tales..." answered King Daltus. "But the picori are no mere legend. They certainly exist. No-one outside of the royal family know the truth about them." He was clearly overlooking all the Hyrulian children who'd seen the picori. "The Picori, who forged the sacred blade, live deep in Minish Woods. They should be able to repair the broken blade and reforge the sword."

"What?!" cried Minister Potho, surprised, "Then we must dispatch the soldiers there at once!"

"No, soldiers will not do." Patiently explained the king, "The Picori do not show themselves to anyone but children. Our soldiers could search for days and still find no sign of them."

"I see..." said Grandpa Smith, getting an idea, "If that's the case, why not send Link?"

"If Link has recovered, then yes, I would like to ask this of him. I know that you are Zelda's best friend, and I'm sure you would like to save Zelda." 'Would like' was a huge understatement. Link was _DESPERATE_ to save Zelda, he _needed_ to know she would be safe and he would go see the picori even if the king _DIDN'T_ ask him to! "Please, turn my precious Zelda back to normal. The Picori should know how to create a new sacred sword. It will be a dangerous journey, now that the monsters have been freed, but I take it that you've been learning sword fighting for six years...? Please, take this sword with you, along with the broken Picori Blade." said the king, "I know we can rely on you," Now he muttered, "unlike most kids."

Link walked up to the king and accepted the broken Picori Blade, putting it in his (over-stuffed) side-bag which was attached to his belt, knowing that he had to keep it safe. He was then given a sword, which Link recognised as the sword Grandpa Smith had made for one of the (now-injured) soldiers that Vaati had sent flying. He put the sword on his back with his shield.

"Very well, then. Send the soldiers to look for Vaati at once!" Ordered the king. The soldiers all left to do just that. "Deep within Minish Woods, you will find a place called Deepwood Shrine. Once, humans and picori shared that shrine as a meeting place. I think it would be best if you started your search there." Explained the king.

Grandpa Smith walked up to Link. "Take this map with you." he said, handing Link a map he used for sword deliveries and a spare one. Nobody noticed in the seriousness of the situation, and Link quickly put them in his very over-stuffed bag. "If you get lost on your way to the forest, simply check your map. I've marked the location of the forest for you." Link now felt his grandpa's worry, like an ache which wouldn't go away. "Good luck, and be careful."

"I am counting on you, Link. Only you can break Vaati's curse and free Princess Zelda." Finished King Daltus. Link left the throne room by the main entrance and went through the corridor before leaving through the large entrance of the castle. He left the castle garden, and as he went through North Hyrule Field, he took out one of the maps from his bag, dislodging the other map because of how full the bag was, (what with the uneaten pack lunch, the broken sword and Link's spare pencil) and took a look at it to check that he was going the right way, before running past the group of carpenters fixing the stairs to Hyrule Town, blocking the way inside. He was really worried about Zelda, but he felt no anger towards Vaati. Instead, he found himself wondering about the purple sorcerer's side to the story... It was confusing, especially when he realised it wasn't even early evening yet.


	3. Chapter 3: The Monsters,

**I'm starting to like typing up this story, so I've decided to post more chapters. The way I'm generally doing this is basically Link and Ezlo's POV in this chapter, then Vaati's POV in the next, in other words what Vaati was on the same day as the last chapter. Then Link and Ezlo again the next day, and so on. However, there may be a few exceptions. So,**

 _in the last chapter,_

 _Princess Zelda took Link to The Picori Festival, and Vaati wandered around town a bit. Link and Vaati met during The Picori Festival Sword Fighting Competition, and Vaati beat everyone else in the competition with a few 'magical boosts', and remembered something strange from a long time ago. Meanwhile, Ezlo got a ride to Minish Woods, believing that the picori could help him stop Vaati, and found out about an incident involving a horse, a delivery and a missing whistle. He also got very, very, lost. Vaati turned Princess Zelda into stone after releasing a bunch of monsters from the Bound Chest and breaking the sacred Picori Blade, but strangely enough, felt both satisfied and horrified by that. Link set off to Minish Woods in order to find the picori and hopefully fix the blade and save Zelda..._

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Monsters, The Picori, and The Talking Hat**

Link ran past the carpenters, chopped up some small trees in the way, and went right past Lon Lon Ranch and Eenie and Meenie's house. Soon, he was crossing the bridge to Minish Woods. That's when he slowed down, in order to take a closer look around so he could find the picori. The first thing Link noticed was a red and white ball-like creature with four stubby legs. Link found it confusing because even though it was a living creature, it held no emotion. None at all. Link remembered that one of the monsters that had escaped the Bound Chest looked just like it. Link tried to feel its emotions, but even as Link entered some sort of trance and felt the feelings of the trees and the grasses... just for a moment, he felt something... wonderful. Yet the monster felt nothing. It wasn't like an object or a dead tree, which were invisible in Link's trance, more like a black hole. As if it shouldn't be there.

"O-Ouch!" said Link, snapping out of and forgetting his trance when the monster spat a hard lump of earth at him. He drew his sword and approached it carefully... Then whacked it on the head with the flat side of his sword. It simply went... poof. In a cloud of white smoke. Link didn't get it. He continued deeper into the forest, whacking a few more red things along the way. He checked everywhere carefully, but there was no sign of the tiny picori. Link crossed another bridge, then waded through some tall grass which went up to his waist.

The area past the grass was very watery, and Link quickly found that some parts were so deep his entire body could fit in it and others were very shallow. Link thought that it was far too dangerous to explore here, as (though Link didn't like to admit it) he couldn't swim. He'd never learned how.

Link left the watery area and went deeper into the forest, where it was very, very, foggy. Link had to feel his way around with his hands! Strangely, there were some odd-feeling holes in some of the trees... There were also some large green gooey things who's 'heads' reached to halfway up Link's legs. They tried to attack him, and much like the red things, they felt no emotion. it was unnerving.

Past the foggy area, Link waded through more grass and found a clearing with a large old stump there. Link thought he felt something coming from the stump, something magical, but that was just silly. It was a tree stump! Link ignored it and continued further into the forest, going up a small slope and and crossing a large-ish puddle. While he was crossing another, he suddenly heard an incredibly loud voice screeching, "Helllllp! Help meee!"

* * *

Still no luck. Ezlo was absolutely positive that he was right back where he'd started! Then, out of nowhere, two red things with stubby legs showed up and started shooting hard dirt at him! They HURT! As a hat, Ezlo was well and truly helpless. Oh how he hated having to resort to 'Plan B'...

"Helllllp! Help meee!" Screeched Ezlo at the top of his voice. Of all the embarrassing things that HAD to happen to him... "Owch! Won't somebody stop them!? Ow! Help! Somebody! Can't anybody hear me?"

What a terrible day this had been... What were the chances of 'Plan B' actually working?!

* * *

Link went rushing back the way he'd come in order to help whoever was in trouble. When he got there, he was momentarily surprised to see... a very loud talking green hat with a bird-head and a wiggling curly thing on its head, yelling at him! This had just gone from the best day of his life to the scariest day of his life to the WEIRDEST day in Link's entire history of weird days of his life.

Ezlo was just thinking about what a terrible day this had been and the chances of 'Plan B' actually working when a boy with the messiest blonde hair Ezlo had ever seen and a sword came running towards his screeches for help- and paused in momentary surprise the second he saw who was calling for help. Gahh! There wasn't any time for this! "Hey! Kid! You there!" Yelled Ezlo, "Ow! Hey! Don't just stand there! Do something! Ow! What's wrong with you!? Do you _like_ watching me take this abuse!? Help me!"

Link snapped out of his surprise and his cheeks went rose-pink in embarrassment. "S-sorry!" He quickly apologised before whacking the monsters away and making them go 'poof'.

"Phew! Well done! That was close!" chattered the hat, "Not that I couldn't handle them myself." Link thought that this odd hat's attitude was funny. Ezlo was more than a little disgruntled that he couldn't even defend himself at human-hat size anymore, and Link curiously felt the funny hat's annoyance and gratefulness. "But that's beside the point!" continued the hat/Ezlo, "What in the world is a child doing so deep in the woods?"

Link felt a little uncomfortable speaking so much in one day, but he had to explain himself. "M-my name's Link. A sorcerer called Vaati t-turned my friend, the princess, into stone! I-I'm searching for the Picori so they can fix the l-legendary blade and s-save her!" he explained.

"Ho ho! I see." answered the strange, rather noisy hat. In fact, his loudness reminded Link of Zelda, who if anything could be equally loud at times if not louder. At the same time, Ezlo began processing this information. "The... Picori, you say? And Vaati?" Link felt his worry for a moment. "Vaati's cursed someone? What? The sacred blade?! Is that so?" Link nodded. "I see, I see... You know, you and I have a lot in common. You see, I, too, am on a quest to beak a curse of Vaati's. And you say that reforging the sacred blade can break this curse, eh?" Link nodded again. "Well, then you have found yourself a companion, my boy!" Announced the increasingly noisy hat. "My name is Ezlo. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Link, after all that, was mildly surprised. However, he'd need all the help he could get. _(What does a-quay-tanss m-mean?)_ wondered Link. Finding out wasn't important right now, so he just walked back to the deeper part of the forest. Then Ezlo yelled, "Wait! Wait I say! You walk so quickly! Too quickly, in fact! Can't you go any slower? Surely you've noticed that I have no legs..."

Link felt Ezlo's continuous annoyance- and kept on walking. Unfortunately, Ezlo kept on complaining. "Boy! Take a good look at me! Do you really think I can walk that fast!?" Finally, Ezlo got so annoyed he came up with an idea. Link felt it and wondered what the idea was. "Augh!" squawked Ezlo. "If it isn't one thing, it's another! You are a troublesome boy!" He proceeded to jump onto Link's head. Link felt uncomfortable and wiggled around and the same time that Ezo was wiggling around. How awkward. Ezlo would never forget that moment. Link would.

A short scuffle later, Ezlo announced, "There! Now, you can't possibly leave be behind!" Actually, Ezlo had thought that Link's messy hair would be uncomfortable, but instead, it was very comfy. Like a nest. "My, it's quite comfortable up here. More comfortable than it looks, surely. And much easier on me!" Link wasn't really used to wearing hats in general, let alone a living, wiggling, noisy one. He still fiddled with Ezlo a bit while Ezlo complained, "Hey! Quit your squirming! Can't you sit still?! See... There... Yes, yes! That's it. Much better."

Link was a bit intrigued by this noisy hat. He knew that hats aren't usually alive, and that alone was interesting. He also wondered wether Ezlo had always been a hat. That didn't seem very likely. He was, as usual, listening and keeping quiet. "Now, I suppose a boy like you still has much to learn about the world. If you ever need my insight, just _ASK_ , won't you? I'll be happy to help! Ahh, such a hopeless child..." Ezlo clearly didn't live in Hyrule if he thought _Link_ was 'hopeless'... Ezlo continued talking as Link headed back through the forest. As they got to the odd stump, Ezlo realised that it was the magic amplifier from earlier! By channeling its power, a skilled sorcerer like Ezlo would be able to shrink both himself and Link despite Ezlo's very much weakened state! Well, he'd have to simplify it... after all, the young boy called 'Link' wouldn't possibly get what a 'magic amplifier' was... Did he even know what 'to amplify' meant...? _(Of course not.)_ Was Ezlo's opinion.

"Hold on for a moment, my boy! We've stumbled upon something important! The world of the Minish is very small. You're far to big to meet them now. Eh?" Asked Ezlo when he bent over and spotted the confused expression on Link's face, "The minish? Ah, yes! Silly me! Allow me to explain... You humans call them 'picori', but they refer to themselves as the minish! Strange how, in the world of humans, only this forest has kept that name... Anyhow, deep in the forest," Noe Ezlo was actually making an educated guess here, he really had no clue wether he was right. Apparently, Link was too trusting for his own good. "They built a tiny village, where many now live. But if we're to enter the village, we'll have to make you much smaller first. Just look at that. At first glance, it appears to be a mere stump, yes? No, that stump is a-" Ezlo realised he'd have to call them something else, he couldn't go through all the trouble of explaining 'magic amplifiers' and whatnot, though Link's magic potential was incredible for a boy his age (ten, Ezlo presumed) and there wasn't much time before the portal closed... "-portal used by people long ago to adjust their size!"

Link was finding all this very confusing. However, he understood what Ezlo meant, but he was feeling Ezo's uncertainty. He _knew_ Ezlo was guessing and/or simplifying it for him. "With my help, you can use it to shrink down to minish size. Just stand on the stump! Go back inside it and I'll turn you back. Get me up there and we'll give it a try!" Finished Ezlo. Link hopped up onto the stump, and Ezlo began hopping left and right while balancing runes and saying incarnations before Link shrunk, feeling no pain or discomfort. He fell inside the stump, and bounced down safely on a few mushrooms. Once he left, he blinked and looked around. At first, it wasn't so different, but then he realised that the grass was now far taller than he was, and the stump he'd just left was as large as a large house! Link was feeling very disorientated. Like his first day of school. He still remembered the insecurity even now, but he had to save Zelda. Not because the king asked him to, but because she was his friend.

Ezlo chuckled, because for HIM things were back to normal. "Welcome to the world through the eyes of the minish! Now, aren't you glad you saved me? No need to thank me, though! Portals that change your size are all around, in different shapes and sizes. If you want to return to normal, go inside a portal. But there is one thing you must know: Being minish sized is full of dangers! Mere puddles at your size are bottomless swamps to the minish. And as your companion, if anything happens to you, it happens to me too! So proceed with caution, my boy! If not for your sake, then for my own!"

The world really _did_ seem different! Link saw that there was a large archway in front of him that wasn't there before he shrunk _(M-maybe I was too big?)_ and went right through it, Ezlo explaining more about The Minish World on his head. Past the archway (a log in a bigger perspective) Link saw what would usually be a rather small puddle, but was now a deep lake. However, some water currents or something were pushing some huge leaves towards him. Link got on one. He didn't really want Ezlo to figure out that he couldn't swim...

Past the puddle\lake, Link walked through a picori-sized pathway. Past the pathway was the Minish Village. A little deeper in, Ezlo commentated that they may have found the village, then a few picori/minish greeted them curiously- in their own language. Link didn't understand it at all, and Ezlo had trouble understanding them as their dialect was different to his own. ("What Link heard" [what Ezlo heard])

"Rico Picori!" [Human a-ri!]

"Ripi ripico picori!" [Are ripi-human ripi!]

"Picou pico ripico!" [Haven't pi-een ico human!]

At least Ezlo's attempt to understand what they were saying worked to a degree... "I gather it's been quite some time since they last saw a human... What's that look for? Did you not understand what they were saying right now? Ah, yes. That was the language of the minish. It is a little different from the dialect I am most familiar with. I'm afraid I didn't catch most of what they said myself. But perhaps someone here can understand your language we -you- should look around." The mystery as to why the humans called minish 'picori' was definitely solved.

Link had noticed and felt the picori's friendliness and innocence. The village was amazing. tucked away among the clovers, there were mushroom houses, a shoe house, a barrel house, a pot house and even a house made of some material that Link didn't recognise. He went inside that last house as it had no door. Inside this house, a minish wearing glasses and a large, red priest-hat complete with robes stood there.

"Hnm... I've never seen an outfit like that before. are you... a human?" he asked. Link nodded. "Oh my! It's been quite some time since any humans came here. My name is Festari. I watch the abbey, as well as the shrine to the north. You... seem to be having some trouble with our language, don't you? You could use a jabber nut. It will allow you to understand and speak our tongue. You should be able to find one in the barrel house just south of here."

"Thank you very much." Replied Ezlo. Naturally, Festari felt a bit surprised. Link left before they wasted anymore time. Inside the barrel house, there were large plants with glowing, round flowers growing, and Ezlo began talking again as Link effortlessly moved some heavy-looking crates out of the way. "You know Link..." grumbled Ezlo, "I don't like all these new-fangled plant mechanisms. As far as I'm concerned I prefer good old-fasioned LEARNING to things like jabber nuts. Did you know, I know someone who's ALLERGIC to jabber nuts..." and before Ezlo could stop himself, he muttered, "...though he's a very unusual minish to begin with..." Link heard that last part as he picked up the jabber nut and cut it in half with his sword. He ate one half (it tasted yummy) and listened to Ezlo's complaining. "Oh, Link. I do think that this new-fangled stuff is ridiculous. How are minish kids supposed to get the conviction to LEARN if- oof."

Link wasn't gonna deal with this. He was less inclined to waste time at the moment. So he just shoved the fruit (?) in Ezlo's beak. Ezlo was very surprised. After Ezlo swallowed, he asked, "Hey! What did you go and do that for?! I still think learning is better, but we just don't have the time. You know, I've got at least TEN reasons why this new-fangled fruit stuff is a VERY BAD thing..." While he was talking, Link went straight back to Festari's house.

"So now you've eaten the jabber nut, and now you can understand us..?" Asked Festari.

"Yes, now can you help us fix the broken Picori Blade?" Asked Ezlo, while Link showed Festari the snapped blade.

"Sorry, but I know little about swords. I'm sure the elder can help you." suggested Festari.

Link left to find the elder. It didn't take very long for him to find the elder's house. Link was having trouble believing this was all real! That Zelda was turned to stone, his guide was a talking hat, and he'd just eaten a FRUIT to help him speak picori. However, Link would do whatever it took to save Zelda.

"Oh! You speak our language!" said the minish elder delightfully when Ezlo explained that they could understand him. "We have little to offer in the woods, but please, enjoy your stay."

"Thank you for your offer, but we have no time to relax. My name is Ezlo. This child is Link. We have to break a curse that has been cast on the princess of Hyrule. To do so, we need to reforge the broken Picori Blade." Explained Ezlo.

"Ah, yes. And you've come to have the blade reforged? Hmm... Well, if that's what you're after, you'll need four mystic elements. These elements are the crystalline forms of the energies of this world. Only by infusing these energies can a new blade be forged. Here, give me your map." Link, a bit confused as to what he meant by 'crystalline energies' but getting the point, handed it over. If this got any more complicated, he was going to get a headache... "I can mark where the elements can be found." He did so, and Ezlo nodded along as if all this made perfect sense. In Ezlo's point of view, it did, though the elder was missing a few key details... Ezlo reminded himself that this was not an advanced magical weaponry lesson.

"The Earth Element can be found in the shrine to the north of Festari's abbey. Speak with Festari. He will show you to the shrine's entrance. Go with caution. Evil creatures have made their home in our shrine. Return to me at once after you have found the Earth Element." Explained the Elder.

Link left the elder's house, still a bit confused. He wondered how crystals would fuse with a sword, how energy could be solid, and what would happen if they smashed. He decided to ask Ezlo later.

"You wish to go to the shrine?" Asked Festari after Ezlo explained the matter to him. "Very well... this way..." He moved out of the way of the doorway behind him. "Vile beasts have settled in recently. Be careful; it's quite dangerous."

Link went through the passage and into the shrine. He wondered what Vaati was up to now, and if he'd met Ezlo before or had been the one to turn him into a hat. Link wasn't angry. He thought about the mixture of feelings he'd felt from Vaati, and wondered wether Vaati was really as evil as everybody thought...


	4. Chapter 4: Unnatural Malevolence

**Random Story Fact: The way Vaati originally planned to track down the light force was by sensing it's power, as any good magic user would be able to feel such powerful magic. The bound chest and the Picori Blade were also examples of powerful magic, so Vaati thought that the light force might be there- however, it wasn't. At this point, he thought that if the light force was hidden somewhere nearby, he'd be able to sense where it was. So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _In Minish Woods, Link began his search for the picori. When Ezlo got cornered by two weak monsters, Lik quickly showed up and saved him. Ezlo decided to tag along with Link. Curiously, the monsters were completely emotionless... How bizarre. Thanks to Ezlo's knowledge and educated guessing, they found Minish Village deep within Minish Woods. After eating a jabber nut, Link and Ezlo found out that the key to fixing the Picori Blade would be to find the four elements, and Link wondered what Vaati was doing that same afternoon and wether he was actually evil..._

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Unnatural Malevolence**

Vaati laughed, "Pleh heh heh...", before teleporting directly to Minister Potho's study. Vaati looked around, a little confused. This was not part of the plan, yet something inside Vaati contradicted, told him yes, he'd meant to come here. Vaati walked over to the sword that was originally meant to be presented to him before he'd turned the princess into stone. He took it, then teleported to Hyrule's inn, where Mira Lisan was staying. Vaati became invisible, now realising why he was even here.

 _"I'm gonna win that sword for my sister and you're not going to stop me!"_

He had no use for the sword, so why not? A part of Vaati felt that Mira's sister must be very important to her if she went to all the trouble of nearly winning the competition for her. Family must be a nice thing to have. As far as Vaati was concerned, Ezlo did not count. Not at all. Besides, he'd cheated in the contest. If he hadn't, Mira would surely have won hands down. Vaati picked up a random piece of paper and took a pencil out from his inside cloak pocket, then wrote a message onto the paper, reading,

'I have no need for this. So take it. I hope your sister likes it. -Vaati.'

He then checked the records to see which room was Mira's and snuck into it. He then left the sword and message on the bedside table, before teleporting to the middle of North Hyrule Field.

* * *

A few minutes after Vaati left, Mira came into the room and looked over with confusion at the sword she'd been so close to winning on he bedside table. She smiled as she read the message, before packing her things and leaving the inn. Curiously, the inn lady insisted that nobody had been there while Mira was out.

* * *

As soon as Vaati got there, he was surprised to see a map just lying on the ground. Vaati picked it up and looked at it. What luck! The map wasn't even scratched. It would be perfect for Vaati to use. He put it away in his cloak pocket, which had a dimensional hole spell on it, allowing it to hold anything. Vaati continued wandering around North Hyrule Field, wondering where to look for the light force next. After deciding to explore Hyrule a bit, he ended up at a ranch. He was in no hurry. He would find the light force, but he had to get used to this world first.

When he reached the house at the ranch, he saw a large, chubby man packing bottles of a white liquid into a cart. A horse was grazing nearby. The house was to Vaati's right, and a large stump was behind the man and the horse. Vaati knew that word would not spread quickly around here, and the man would most likely not recognise him.

"Excuse me, but do you know anything about the light force?" Asked Vaati, carefully analyzing him to tell wether he was hiding anything from him, Vaati's gift.

"Who are you?" Suspiciously asked the man, "I haven't seen you around here before."

"I'm Vaati." Vaati replied, "Now tell me... who are you and what do you know about the light force?" His voice was cold, calm and soft, the voice of someone patient, but dangerous.

"I'm Talon, the owner of this ranch." replied the man, still clearly suspicious of Vaati, "I haven't even heard of this 'light force'." A dangerous gleam came into the blood-red eye uncovered by hair.

"You lie." Stated Vaati.

Just at that moment, a young girl with red hair wearing a pale blue dress came over, holding a picnic basket. "Hi, Dad!" She called out to Talon, "Has Vaati come over to say hello? You should have seen him in the competition- he won the whole thing in record time!"

"Oh- really?" Asked Talon, awkwardly.

"You were there? What's your name?" Asked Vaati, "Do you know anything about the light force?"

"Malon," Replied the girl, "and yeah- the light force is supposed to be this golden power the picori gave us! I heard that it's power is legendary, but it's location is a mystery. That's all I know."

Vaati felt that that wasn't very helpful, but she'd spoken the truth- that was all she knew.

"I had a great time at the festival! Dad, can Vaati come inside? I'd like to show him around the ranch. After all, he did come all the way to Hyrule..." insisted Malon. It was clear Talon still didn't trust Vaati. He put on a smile anyway.

"Of course- Vaati, do feel welcome to look around the ranch..." agreed Talon.

Malon led Vaati through her house and gave him a tour of the ranch. Talon was keeping an eye on them from a distance the entire time. Obviously, Vaati _wasn't_ welcome. "This is Epona!" Introduced Malon, showing Vaati her horse. "She can be a bit wild at times, but she's a great horse! Epona, this is Vaati!" Vaati found that he could still understand animals, despite his transformation. Perhaps that was because he was still minish at the core.

"Vaati, hhhuh?" snorted Epona, "Vaati the sorcerer who turned someone into a hhhhat?" Upon hearing this, Vaati realised that Ezlo must have come to The Human World too. That meant he'd get in the way...

 _(That's it!)_ Vaati thought, _(If I run into him, I'll turn him into stone.)_ His expression darkened.

"What's wrong?" Asked Malon.

"Nothing." Replied Vaati, "Now, what else is there?"

Malon continued to show him all the different places in the ranch, and to introduce him to the cows and the dogs. The cows were placid, and actually very nice. The dogs were the exact opposite- Vaati thought that they were very noisy, not to mention annoying and one of them was rather rude. After that, Malon started talking about the time she'd seen the picori.

"The picori were so cute! They were wearing little blue coats and sweet little blue hats! I saw those three on Rem's desk at the shoe store, but one of them just stood out- that one seemed the sweetest! Have you ever seen a picori?" Asked Malon.

"Yes, I knew some." Replied Vaati, hoping she wouldn't ask about it- Ezlo had been right. Not being able to speak a lie _was_ annoying. However, Vaati knew how to twist his words- he could twist a truth and make people believe a lie. During the entire tour, Vaati didn't feel any great amounts of magical power... The light force was not here, but somewhere else. Still, the tour wasn't finished yet. Vaati continued to follow Malon until she showed him the cuccos. They reminded him of when a cucco had shown up near Vaati's village, terrifying everybody.

 _"Look out, a cucco is coming! RUN AWAY FROM IT!"_

 _"Master Ezlo, quickly, scare it off!"_

 _Everybody had always respected Ezlo, since he was the one who protected_ _everybody from large, scary creatures like cuccos. Vaati had eagerly gone_ _towards the cucco in order to try and prove to the village that he could protect_ _them too, but Ezlo had stopped him and scared the cucco away by summoning_ _fire from the fireplace onto it._ _Ezlo had saved the day once again... (Doesn't he trust me to protect myself and them, too?) Vaati had thought at the time._

Vaati thought of how just being the size of a human made him far more powerful than most minish as he looked down on the cuccos, which now seemed harmless. To the minish, they were humungous village-squashing animals which were difficult to reason due to their general stupidity. To the humans, they were apparently a source of food. Still, even though he was more powerful than the minish, it wouldn't be enough to keep him safe in a world were there were creatures much larger and more powerful than even humans. _(The hat may be helping to draw out my true abilities now, but it's temporary. I can't rely on it. After all, if I were to take it off, my true magic ability would hide again.)_ thought Vaati. _(The light force would make my power go above and beyond even my own potential and ability- and it would be permanent.)_

"Oh! You know what, you should come and try some of our famous Lon Lon Milk!" Eagerly offered Malon, breaking into Vaati's thinking and making him wonder about something else-

"Milk?" asked Vaati. These humans were full of strange things. Vaati had never heard of it in his life.

"You know, the drink Lon Lon Ranch is famous for- people come from all over Hyrule to try our Lon Lon Milk!" announced Malon, "Follow me, I think we've got a spare bottle of it somewhere..."

Two minutes later, Vaati, Malon and Talon were all in the house at Lon Lon Ranch, and Malon shoved a bottle of Lon Lon Milk into Vaati's hands. Vaati sipped a little and it tasted... odd. He decided that he preferred berry juice, but this human drink wasn't bad.

"Mmm... not bad." said Vaati, putting the bottle on the nearby table, "Well, I'd better go now." As he said that, he heard a sigh of relief from Talon's general direction. As Vaati left, he overheard Talon talking about him with Malon.

"He didn't hurt you or scare you, did he?" asked Talon.

"No, he didn't, but Vaati's strange... he's cold, Dad," replied Malon, "and I think he's lonely."

Vaati didn't stick around to hear anything else. He checked the map to see where else the light force might be. He thought about trying a tracking spell, but then remembered that it only worked with people. Let's see... There was the possibility that it was somewhere in Hyrule Town or Castle, but Vaati didn't want to check there just yet, incase he caused a ruckus. Hmmm... maybe it was in Minish Woods. After all, he had heard something about picori -probably minish- living there. If the light force wasn't there, Vaati could always ask the picori where the light force was. The Royal Graveyard might be a good place to search as well, since it was a connection to the royal family... _( But Minish Woods would be a better place to start.)_ concluded Vaati, putting the map back in this cloak pocket.

Next, Vaati experimented with his elemental wind magic a bit and used it to fly over Lon Lon Ranch and to the entrance to a corner of Minish Woods. _(I wonder why only the forest kept the name 'minish'...)_ thought Vaati to himself as he walked through the forest path. The trees around him were very dense, and Vaati didn't want to cause a ruckus by destroying a lot of trees, and he couldn't fly out of the forest because of all the branches- he hadn't practised using his elemental magic properly yet. After all, great magical power required great knowledge and skill. Vaati continued down the path, alone with his thoughts.

That's when he heard the gentle lapping of water nearby. Vaati curiously walked towards the sound. If someone had seen him at that particular moment, they would have thought he looked just like a young child. Vaati walked to the edge of the lake and the moment was over. looking at the fearful, calm water, Vaati's eye widened in fear as he felt _that_ memory again...

 _Splashing. Giant drops, double the size of boulders._

 _Water, a river, washing away a home he would never know._

 _Struggling. Sinking. Splashing. Screaming._

Before he knew what he was doing, the wind had responded to his fear (that tends to happen when one is connected to the energies of the world) and swirled around him fiercely, yet protectively. Vaati looked at the swirling whirlwind around him, and felt protected, but... not really safe. The feeling of being protected felt good, but it wasn't really the same as feeling truly _safe_. The cyclone became stronger, and Vaati's power began accidentally picking up the water- now, this was bad in two ways. One, the cyclone/whirlwind/tornado/typhoon/hurricane would end up becoming like a giant whirlpool and would cause a _HUGE_ ruckus, and two, being surrounded by water would easily terrify the life out of Vaati at this point. So, Vaati's reaction to this was to teleport out of there as quickly as possible, and the first place that came to mind was North Hyrule Field (after all, random teleporting is a _Very Bad Idea_. Emphasise on _BAD_ ).

Vaati was now right back where he'd started- at North Hyrule Field, near a tree. Vaati took his map out of his cloak and tried to figure out where he'd just been. Upon looking closer at the right edge of Lon Lon Ranch, he realised that he'd taken a path that cut right though Minish Woods and led to Lake Hylia. That part of the forest was apparently cut off from the rest of it. Vaati would have to find another way in. He hoped that the light force wasn't hidden at Lake Hylia; as despite everything, his old fear was still there. However, the more Vaati thought about it, the more he thought that he wasn't afraid of the _water,_ more the _memory_ that came with it... could it be... that he was _afraid_ of the past, more so of the past he never knew after the flood?

 _("That's right.")_ said the timid voice in Vaati's head, _("You are afraid. We both are. You need to find it. Stop running away. You don't need power to find that past of yours.")_

"Stop." replied Vaati, though he didn't realise he was speaking out loud. He coldly, calmly focused on blocking his inner voice out. "Once I find the light force, my ultimate potential will be released. Once that potential is power, I'll b- _feel_ safe, and the fear will go away once I'm safe."

... Had he just..? No, he couldn't have... but something inside told him that he'd twisted his words, that he was believing a lie. It would have been wiser to listen to that feeling, but Vaati squashed it and cleared his mind. That dark, cold feeling showed up. Not the _**rage**_ , exactly, but something... malevolent. Similar to when he'd turned the princess to stone. It felt unnatural, yet _right_. It made him feel better than his inner voice and conflicting morals. It just... was.

Yes. Once he'd gotten the light force and reached his ultimate potential, he would build that potential into ability, then into pure power, and the fear would go away for good. He'd be safe. But he would have to find it first. Vaati decided to fly high into Hyrule's skies. From there, he would work out what to do next. Up in the skies, Vaati figured, nobody would be there to potentially disturb him, and maybe he would find something or someone useful from up there.

Vaati found that he actually really liked the sensation of flying; as the very air cloaked around him, lifting him up, protecting him from falling. He flew far above Hyrule Town, where some soldiers were searching around, presumedly for him, and passed it. _(I'll leave the forest for later. Getting too close to that lake again would not be good.)_ thought Vaati, analyzing, processing, and sorting out his current speculation and knowledge inside his mind and coming to a conclusion, _(The Royal Graveyard would be a good place to start- I can search there without causing a ruckus, and its connection to the royal family could prove to be useful at some point. I'll go there next.)_ Upon reaching this conclusion, Vaati checked the map again and flew towards his destination. A bit of peaceful time later, a couple of voices broke into Vaati's thoughts.

"Oh! I had no idea humans could fly!" Squawked a voice behind him.

"Well, looks like they can! But how? They have no wings!" Added a different voice.

Vaati turned around to see two colourful birds, one a bright, tropical red; the other a cool, sea-sky blue, chatting away behind him. They were looking at each other and did not notice Vaati listening in to their conversation.

"Maybe he's trying to find the Palace of Winds!" suggested the red bird.

"Well, then he's on the wrong side of Hyrule!" chuckled the blue bird.

New plan! Work out where this 'Palace of Winds' is and see if it has anything to do with the light force! "Palace of Winds? Where is it?" Demanded Vaati.

"What?!" twittered the red bird in surprise, "You can understand us?!"

"Yes." replied Vaati, his voice showing no emotion, yet somewhat threatening, "Where is this 'Palace of Winds'? Do you know anything about the light force? Does the 'Palace of Winds' connect in any way to the light force?"

"We know none of that." Insisted the blue bird, clearly trying to get itself and the red bird away from Vaati. The dangerous gleam and the malevolent feeling came back.

"You lie." stated Vaati. The blue bird took one look at him and froze up, only his wings moving. The red bird remained obliviously unfazed and, strangely enough, friendly.

"Well, we can show you to the Palace of Winds!" Offered the red bird, "The Wind Tribe might know about that 'light force' you're asking about!"

"Okay, show me then!" ordered Vaati.

He followed the birds' lead as they flew in the opposite direction, towards the Palace of Winds. Vaati checked his map as he flew and noticed that it wasn't on the map. However, there was a lot of blank space in the top-right corner, above the place labelled, 'Veil Falls'. He then put it away, deciding that his trip to Royal Valley, and ultimately to the Royal Graveyard, could wait. If the light force was hidden in the sky, he would find it!

"You know, I'm wondering how you understand us." chattered the red bird. The blue bird seemed to be feeling better.

"Yes, you don't seem to be Minish." added the blue bird.

"But are you sure you're Hylian? I mean, no offence, but but every Hylian I've ever met are definitely not purple!" continued the red bird.

"Minish aren't purple, or human-size either!" chattered the blue bird.

"Are there really no purple minish? Or red-eyed minish?" Asked a small, curious voice of a minish boy from a long time ago.

"Nope!" replied both birds at once.

 _(Was I always the only one? Am I some sort of... freak?)_ sadly thought Vaati, the cold fading for a moment, being replaced with sad fear, mixed with a bit of curiousness. _(I... don't want to feel this... not again... Stop. Go away. I don't want to feel anything.)_ Vaati coldly squashed those feelings. It was as if his coldness was forming into malevolence, which formed into that unnatural, determined **_rage_**... _(Freak or not, even with my power now, I can make people fear me... I can make them feel that fear... I will **RAGE!** )_ Vaati's eye narrowed and seemed to glow an iridescent blood-red for that second, before fading back into its usual, bright blood-red, however, his eye was still narrowed, and his mind focused. It felt sharp. Deadly. Powerful.

The birds continued to chatter to each other, totally oblivious to Vaati's extremely dangerous state of mind at that particular moment. "Did you know we deliver messages to the minish?" asked the red bird.

"Shh! We're not supposed to tell!" shushed the blue bird.

"Ah, so they even brought messengers from their world..." mused Vaati to himself, in that soft, dark, menacing, malevolent tone of voice, his face in a soft, dark, menacing, malevolent expression, eye an iridescent blood-red...

"I told you not to give away so much!" snapped the blue bird, panicking.

"How did he know about The Minish World?" Asked the red bird curiously to itself, for some reason totally oblivious to Vaati's _really dangerous_ facial expression at the time, despite the fact that both of the birds were now looking directly into Vaati's iridescent eye. The blue bird was trembling in its feathers.

Vaati stared back, a small smile slow-ly curl-ing wi-der across his already sinister expression... it was mysterious, but...

"Sinister..." whimpered the blue bird. The birds turned away from him and continued flying, the blue one flying somewhat faster than before.

The three of them soon reached an entire part of Hyrule, which was made of two layers of clouds and a very large house on a cloud at the top. Vaati and the birds easily flew past the clouds and up to the incredibly large, colourful house with brightly coloured small paper-like windmills spinning nearby. It wasn't as large as Hyrule Castle, but it was the largest house Vaati had ever seen in his life (Hyrule Castle is a castle and therefore doesn't count as a 'house'), and it was all on a huge, stationary cloud. Vaati's expression changed from the scary look before to the innocent, curious look from earlier, at the lake. His eye went back to normal. He tried to stand on the cloud... and nearly fell through.

"Only pure-hearted people can stand on the clouds!" Explained the red bird.

"The wind people can, too!" Added the blue bird.

"We'll help you get inside!" Concluded the red bird before flying in through an open window after the blue bird. A lot of noise which included squawking, twittering, loud talking and thumps followed, and then the front door was opened by a somewhat bulky person with a rather grumpy expression, who had orange-red hair and wore a blue cloak-like outfit.

"Hello," said the person, "What are you here for?"

"I'm here looking for the light force." replied Vaati, do you know anything about it?"

"Yes. In fact, come in!" replied the person, getting out of the way.

"Thank you." said Vaati, floating inside before discovering that he could stand inside the house- just not on the clouds. The wind person showed him to a room where an old lady, and a tall, young lady were doing their own things.

"Belive it or not, we've got an unusual guest." said the grumpy-looking wind person.

"Oh, hello! What's your name?" Asked the old lady, "I'm Siroc."

"I'm Vaati." Introduced Vaati, do you know anything about the light force?"

"Hmm... yes. It is a powerful force that only the one who wields it can handle. Its current location is hidden, but if you search for it, you'll be in for a nasty surprise..." warned Siroc.

"Where might it be?" Asked Vaati.

"Now, now, I'm sure thirteen year old minish don't usually go searching for the light force." replied Siroc, eyes sparkling and smiling. Vaati was rattled. How exactly did _SHE_ know?! One, he had always looked different from normal minish, and he was human-size and looked far more human now, AND he didn't even look very 'thirteen' due to his current height, but the most important reason of all... Vaati was from a different world!

"Huh. So you are the Vaati Ezlo talked about. You look different now." commentated Siroc.

"What? But how? The gate only opens once every hundred years!" Exclaimed Vaati.

"Communication crystal. Ezlo's ancestor gave it to my ancestor before he left to go back home. I've been able to communicate with Ezlo for all this time! So you are his treasured apprentice." Explained Siroc, speaking the truth _right to the last word._

"Treasured?" Asked Vaati in a small voice. As he continued speaking, his voice grew darker and his eye grew slightly more iridescent, yet he sounded as if he were trying to convince _himself_ as well as Siroc. "He never even asked... that proved he didn't care enough to understand- _in my opinion_! He cared more about his project, I'm- _not quite_ -certain of it!" Ezlo had never asked how he felt... not once in his life. That had proved it... yet... it had happened again. His gift had made him correct himself. What was he lying to himself about? Why did it matter so much to him? Why did he even CARE?! Vaati took a deep breath and calmed down. He was still patient with her, but now was the time to push things along a bit.

Siroc raised an eyebrow when she saw the iridescent gleam in Vaati's eye.

"Well, what happened to your other eye?" She asked.

In answer, Vaati moved his hair out of the way, revealing that his other eye had a few scars straight through it. It was the same blood-red as the other eye, but all the life was gone from it. That eye showed no emotion, yet it was still... open. It had the same black birthmark underneath it. Vaati could not see through it, naturally. In fact, the way he'd gotten that injury had done a very rare thing- broken Vaati's patience. Vaati covered the eye up again. The gleam in the other eye had gotten more dangerous, but Vaati would play this game for as long as she could try.

"Oh, goodness me, it looks like someone attacked you!" commentated Siroc.

"You have no idea..." grumbled Vaati.

"Ah, losing patience are we?" cheerfully asked Siroc. However, what was really happening was that Vaati was _calculating_. _planning._ Vaati's malevolence was truly beginning to take control again...

"On the contrary, you are nowhere near breaking it. Now tell me..." Vaati was beginning to feel that dark presence shining past his heart once more, "where is the light force?"

"I told you, it's hidden, and for good reason too." She replied.

"Tell me everything you know about it." demanded Vaati, dangerously.

"Goodness me, no. That won't do. It's for your own safety, it'll turn you into a monster if you can't truly handle its magic potential, let alone its power." Explained Siroc.

Vaati's eye narrowed and he reached out his left hand. As he did so, it turned to shadow, slipping past the physical body and straight into Siroc's memory. Liking this new, dark power already, the rest of Vaati followed, his entire form becoming pure shadow except for his one working red eye, which was literally glowing that iridescent blood-red all over. Vaati went directly into Siroc's memory and searched around for anything generally light-force-related.

The other wind people gasped as Siroc collapsed, holding her head.

 _"Siroc, I don't know what to do about Vaati."_

 _"Vaati? Surely he isn't upset or anything?"_

 _"No... well, I don't know, but he's... well, different. I don't get it."_

 _"What isn't there to get?"_

No. That wasn't useful. but... what had Ezlo said about him? Vaati was curious. NO. _(I shouldn't be. But I am.)_

 _"He's got the gift to sense truth, yet has an affinity for transformation magic. They contradict, a lot. For example, to transform into a rabbit, you must believe you can be a rabbit. Those who sense truth, however, will know that however much you look like a rabbit, you're not a rabbit and you can't ever be a rabbit. How would Vaati ever be able to use that potential of his to its full ability if his powers contradict eac_ _h other like that?! I can't quite put my finger on it but there's always been something threatening about him even though he's scared of everything. I can't figure him out!"_

 _"You will in time. Hopefully before it's too late."_

...What? That was interesting. However, Vaati had known right from the start that Ezlo didn't understand him, but he understood Ezlo. Vaati looked through a few similar memories, before finding some about powerful elemental wind spells that Siroc couldn't use anymore but Vaati could. After a lot of searching, he finally found the information about the light force that he was searching for and left Siroc's memories. Vaati looked down at Siroc and felt both horrified and satisfied.

Unlike last time, the satisfaction won. Vaati smirked coldly and said, "Thank you for the information." He then left the house, leaving Siroc unconscious and the rest of the wind tribe speechless with worry.

Vaati flew down to Veil Falls, thinking about the information he'd gained. _(So,)_ he thought as he set up some sort of shelter at the top of the waterfalls, _(the light force is hidden in a sacred place which is underground... yet that place only holds the secret... to it's true location...)_ Now Vaati was getting somewhere! Now that he had a clue, he would figure it all out soon enough. A sacred place, huh? Maybe the graveyard _was_ it... Still, it was getting very, very late (possibly past midnight) and Vaati realised that he was hungry. He sat down on the ground and took out some food, a special silver book and a pencil from his cloak pocket dimensional hole. After he'd eaten the food, he opened the book. The front page read,

'This diary belongs to Vaati Nightshade.

To whoever reads this thing,

Don't read it unless you know I'm in whatever afterlife there is. If you read it not knowing wether I'm dead or alive, that's positively insulting! I'm keeping my memories safe in here so I never forget them again. Whoever you are, you've got those memories now.

-Vaati.'

Vaati flipped the pages and began writing in everything that had happened since reaching The Human World. After he was done, he closed the diary and put it and the pencil away, before getting some rest. The wind swirled gently around Vaati like it always had, and Vaati fell asleep after thinking one last conclusion for this day.

 _(After all, I can wait. My patience has lasted ten years in the past, and it can very well last longer.)_


	5. Chapter 5: A Piece of the Puzzle

**I'm not sure how it happened, but chapters 2, 3, 4 and this chapter have all ended up being on the same day. Chapter two was the first half of the day, chapter 3 was the afternoon, chapter 4 was the afternoon and well into the night. I guess now we're going to see what Link was doing that same night... The timings should become more stable soon, hopefully. So,**

 _in the last chapter,_

 _Vaati gave Mira the sword from the competition. Setting off to find the light force, he quickly found a map and using it, he was able to work out where he should search first. Vaati also began to become much more connected with the malevolence he didn't understand, which also resulted in people getting scared, and even hurt. Vaati's inner voice tried to show Vaati what was happening to him, but he simply squashed it down. Well past midnight, Vaati wrote in his diary, now one step closer to the light force..._

* * *

 **Chapter 5: A Piece of the Puzzle**

"Don't you think it's LATE, Boy?" nagged Ezlo, "I think you need some rest!" Link felt his frustration, however, Link's own protectiveness for Zelda and determination to save her, plus his fear of the nightmare, won over that. So he went inside the shrine. "So this would be the Deepwood Shrine that the elder spoke of..." said Ezlo, looking around at the crystal-powder cement (the odd material Link doesn't recognise) walls with the mouldy floor and the giant leaves. The whole place smelt like the forest. "He... said something about monsters being inside, didn't he?" Link took his sword and shield from his back. If he was going to save Zelda, he was going to need them. Link was not afraid. If anything, he was _excited_ to see what might be ahead... However, Ezlo was nervous about this, and it didn't help that it was getting late...

"He- Hey now! No reason to be afraid or anything... I'll be waiting right here." Ezlo realised what he was saying all at once. No wonder he'd been a terrible parent to Vaati with THAT attitude! "No, wait! What am I saying!? I'm not letting you leave me alone in here!"

...Well, _that_ wasn't any better.

Link was thinking that Ezlo was being annoying. Very annoying. He was also thinking that whatever Ezlo said, leaving him all alone when he needed some help wouldn't be very nice. Link walked forwards and pushed a large statue out of the way of a door (surprising Ezlo) and went through it.

It was very dark inside the next room. Link carefully moved around, accidentally stepping on some switches and lighting up the room, revealing some huge, fat, yellow slugs with blue stripes. They were monsters too, Link realised as he felt nothing coming from them. The slugs were half the size of Link's legs, and they moved very slowly, leaving sticky stuff everywhere. They disappeared in a puff of white smoke like all the other monsters. Link then put his sword and shield back onto his back, then opened the treasure chest, and pulled out a small, silver key. In front of Link, opposite the door he'd come in this room through, was a locked door. Link unlocked it, and it slid upwards, taking the key with it. He then went through to the next room.

In that room, there was a lot of deep water... "What are you waiting for, Boy?" Asked Ezlo, "Just swim across!" Link was a bit uncomfortable with admitting he couldn't swim because he used to be afraid that he'd drown, like in the nightmare. After Zelda had finally convinced him he was being silly, it was far too late for him to start lessons. Link looked around the room a bit more, and quickly spotted a lever. When he pulled it, the water was bridged up to a bit of land with a large blue mushroom on it. He carefully pulled it- but not far enough. The mushroom flung Link into the water, and Ezlo fell off Link's head because of the force, and Link was reminded of a certain part of the nightmare-

 _Water, lots of water, flooding a place he cared about._

 _Screams, splashes, everything was being washed away._

 _A familiar cry for help, a lot of struggling..._

 _drowning..._

Link struggled and splashed in the water, trying to paddle to the other side. For a second, from the mushroom, Ezlo saw three-year-old Vaati struggle and splash in the water. He jumped in the water and found a way to swim (by moving his 'body' from side to side) and pushed Link to the other side of the water, where Link climbed out, before yelling "Why didn't you TELL me you can't swim?! You could have drowned, Vaa- Link!"

Ezlo had nearly said 'Vaati' as a reflex before stopping himself just in time. Link noticed this and wondered wether Ezlo had a stronger connection to Vaati than he'd thought. In the next room, Link and Ezlo saw a humungous barrel. Link climbed up the stairs to his right, passing a red and white mushroom with feet and quickly skittering past the dust-like, yellow pollen it was leaving around it. At the top of the high area, there were vines connecting the barrel to the top of an unlit torch. Next to the torch was a switch, and Link stepped on it to see what would happen. All the switch did was light the torch, which in turn burned the vines, leaving one side of the barrel loose. Link looked past the side of the barrel and saw more vines on the opposite end of the room.

Link went back the way he'd come (holding his breath when he ran past the pollen) and went through a hole in the barrel. In the barrel, Ezlo asked, "Say, Link, what's the princess like?"

"L-loud." Link replied, thinking about all those times Zelda had chattered away, nearly talking his ears off once or twice.

"Loud?!" asked Ezlo, wondering how exactly one could describe someone else as 'loud', "How come?"

"Because she i-is." replied Link, exiting the barrel through another hole, then walking up more stairs, now on the other side of the barrel. There were two switches up there, a statue and another torch with vines attached to it. He tried to step on both switches at once, but they were too far apart for him to be able to push both of them down properly. Link soon found that they wouldn't work unless they were both pushed down at the same time, so he pushed the statue onto one of the switches and stepped on the other one. Once again, the torch lit up and the vines were burnt away, leaving the barrel completely loose. Ezlo wondered why the barrel didn't burn, and he took a closer look at it while the vines were burning. Upon looking closer, Ezlo realised that the barrel was actually a bit damp, and the flames were too small to spread.

Link went back inside the barrel, and when he walked inside of it, it began to spin since the vines weren't holding it any more. "Wha-?!" gasped Ezlo, "Be careful, my lad! The barrel just moved!" Link began to experiment with the movement, and found that new doorways opened up as the barrel rolled in place. It was as if those holes had all been carved in exactly the right places, and who knows, maybe they had. One hole led downwards, into a basement of some sort, but it was covered up with a gigantic, sticky, bouncy web. Link bounced up and down on it, much to Ezlo's annoyance. It didn't break. Bouncing on it, Link quickly discovered, was fun! He got off it after seeing that it clearly wasn't going to break.

So, Link soon found another new doorway leading to the other side of the room and went through it, then through another door just outside of it. A little further into the next room, Link found another stretchy blue mushroom, which was conveniently in front of another stretch of deep water. "Be CAREFUL!" Yelled Ezlo in Link's right ear, "I don't want to drag you out of there again!"

In answer, Link pulled the mushroom as far as it would go, then grabbed Ezlo's rim securely before he went sailing over the first stretch of water, the solid ground in front of a door to Link's left, over the stretch of deep water behind it, and finally over the ground behind THAT and slammed face-first into the wall at the end of everything else. Ezlo got dropped to the ground the second Link hit the wall, and he felt a bit dizzy. Ezlo looked over to the wall Link had slammed against. It had a large, Link-sized dent in it along with several cracks all around the dent. Link was on the floor, looking dizzy but not out cold.

"O-ow." He said. Two seconds later Link got up, just like that, and put Ezlo back on his head. Ezlo blinked.

"Are you okay, my boy?" he asked.

"Y-yeah." Matter-of-factly replied Link. Link looked at the Link-sized dent. Ezlo looked at the Link-sized dent.

 _(What is with that boy?!)_ thought Ezlo, _(He just slammed face-first into a wall made of crystal-powder cement, and he just gets up and says he's okay like it happens all the time?! The material IS far softer then stone, but an impact like that should have at least knocked him out for a few seconds...)_

 _(W-wow... I made a d-dent like that?)_ thought Link, _(That o-odd blue stuff must be r-really soft! How L-lucky!)_

Link felt Ezlo's shock and wondered wether the material was supposed to be that soft or not. Ezlo figured that he shouldn't question it and be glad Link was so resistant to hard impacts. Both didn't voice their thoughts, and Link looked to his right and saw a staircase leading to more high ground. Link went up the stairs, and saw a large treasure chest. Link opened it, and found a map of Deepwood Shrine inside. It would be very useful, but Link would clearly be unable to carry it everywhere as his bag was full to the brim at the moment... Ezlo noticed this problem too and announced, "You know what? I know a way to sort this out!" He hopped to the floor next to Link. "Pass me your bag." Link did so, and watched as Ezlo hopped around on the spot, and then suddenly, the bag looked as if it were completely empty. "Well, you can hold anything in that bag now!" Chuckled Ezlo. Sure enough, Link put his hand inside, and it was like reaching into an infinite amount of space... he found that he could bring anything he needed into his grasp as soon as he thought of it. The map certainly fit. Thanks to the map, Link had figured out where he should go next.

He ran down the high ground, then jumped back to the mushroom. This time, Link got it right and landed right in front of the door to the next room. There isn't really much to say on the next couple of rooms, just more switches, more monsters and another key. After all that, Link retraced his steps and checked the map.

Back in the barrel, Link's stomach growled really loudly. Realising all at once that he was really hungry, Link took out the box with his pack lunch from this morning in, and took out a cheese sandwich from it. "Finally!" cried Ezlo in relief, leaping off Link's head and grabbing the sandwich in his beak. Link ate the other one as Ezlo gobbled his up. After they'd eaten, Link asked,

"How is the e-energy of the w-world solid?"

"Through great magical power!" explained Ezlo, getting into one of his big speeches, "The four energies are said to be held together by the elemental powers of the world itself! According to speculative research, they are the very essence of magic, and all forms of magic could be deprived from the elementals! Apparently, their crystal forms are merely a thin shell, and theoretically, if that shell is broken, huge magical power will be released into the world and terrible natural disasters would bring it to ruin! I have my own ideas about this long-disputed speculation about these mysterious, legendary elements..."

Link felt more confused about it than before. However, he knew he didn't really need to understand. He had the main information in his head anyway: Four elements+sword=fixed sword+saved Zelda. It honestly seemed that simple. Link continued to listen to Ezlo's giant speech anyway. Ezlo completely lost track of what he was saying, and quickly got off the subject and forgot that it was a ten-year-old boy listening, not a room full of of experienced magic-users.

"...some of those ideas include their possible reactions to each other, for example, what if the water element was smashed with the fire element? Are some elements stronger than others? Vaati overheard one of my discussions one day and as it turns out, he thinks that the four great energies and the elements are, in fact, the same thing and that the elemental powers are drawn out from the four crystallized energies. Vaati even found evidence in general magical laws proving his theory to be plausible..." chattered Ezlo, totally unaware of who he was mentioning. Link, however, heard every word. He began to try and figure out just _how_ connected Ezlo and Vaati was...

"...but in the end, nobody really knows anything certain about them, and it's thought to be impossible to find them as they're supposedly sealed in temples in The Human World, which then raises the question of if there's more than one connection between our world and The Human World than just the Elemental Sanctuary and the portal- oh, wait. I'm getting off the subject." Finished Ezlo, snapping out of his speech. "Does that answer your question?"

Link shook his head. Ezlo sighed. "Well anyway, can't you rest a bit? I mean, the princess should be fine, that magic doesn't cause much harm, you know."

"..." Link knew Zelda would be bored to tears being stuck in one place all day, but Ezlo had a point, but if he wasn't going to sleep because of the nightmare, he might as well get closer to saving Zelda tonight... right?

"I mean, really- HEY!" Ezlo shouted as Link just put him back on his head without a word. "Oh why do you hardily SAY anything?! Honestly, not even VAATI would just ignore me like that!"

Link stopped in his tracks. Ezlo finally realised he'd slipped. "Uh..." he said, a little worried. Link decided to try and find more pieces to Ezlo's puzzle.

"...You kn-know him?" asked Link. Ezlo panicked and quickly thought up a way to change the subject.

"Sort of," replied Ezlo, "but I can tell you this; he's allergic to jabber nuts!" This was actually true. A teacher at Vaati's school had made him try a tiny bit of it, but he'd instantly got covered in pink spots and he threw up. Ezlo had hated them even more after that incident. "Besides, they're no substitute for ACTUAL- AHHH!"

While Ezlo was talking, Link had left the barrel and come across another blue mushroom, then gone flying through the air once again, taking Ezlo by surprise. Link really liked the feeling of being fast. Soon, he did it again and ended up in a room with more slug things. "-LEARNING!" finished Ezlo without skipping a beat. "Did you know, they only last a week!"

Link wasn't really paying attention at this point- he was too busy pushing a statue onto a button. A door opened, and he went through it. The door closed behind him and a bunch of very large, red ladybug-like monsters showed up, as emotionless as the ones before them. Link soon defeated them (all it took was a good WHACK), wondering why people were so afraid of these things- one could defeat them with a thick stick if they tried! Yet another small key dropped from the ceiling. Link was beginning to think that Deepwood Shrine was more like a dungeon.

Back in the other room, Link went up some stairs and jumped down to a doorway leading to an underground room. In that room, Link spotted a switch and stepped on it- then a treasure chest appeared. However, it disappeared when Link got off the switch, so Link put a nearby pot on the switch to hold it down. When Link walked over to the chest, he saw that he couldn't open it from this side, but deep water and that very same chest were blocking the only way to the other side.

"Now there's a puzzler..." grumbled Ezlo, "I suspect there's not much we can do here. Maybe we can work things from another angle later on." Link silently agreed with him and went back up the stairs. This time he went left, to another doorway. That room was filled with the yellow dust-like pollen, and a lot of it flew right into Link's face the second he walked into the room.

"A-Achoo!" sneezed Link, eyes watering and nose going bright red. This stuff had been around earlier, but now it was everywhere! "Achoo! Achoo! A-Achoo!"

"Hay fever?" asked Ezlo to- well, himself, really, as Link wasn't listening. Link ran through the first archway he saw and slammed face-first into a sticky, bouncy web, which sent him running right back where he'd started. Link was trying to get away from all the pollen, and Ezlo got very dizzy because off all of Link's running around. Soon, Link found a locked door and unlocked it before running into the room.

Unfortunately, the door slammed shut behind them and they were stuck in the room with a gigantic blue caterpillar-like monster. "Ew, what is that? Is that a caterpillar? It's disgusting!" Complained Ezlo, snapping into focus the moment he realised that they were stuck in the room with a monster. "Hey kid! I'll just let you take care of this one!" _(Not again! One day I'll get rid of that attitude...)_ thought Ezlo after realising what he'd just said.

Meanwhile, Link rummaged around in his bag, looking much better, before taking out a tiny box. Inside the box were some teeny-weeny blue gummy-like C.H.S.M.S (Children's Hay-fever Specific Medical Sweets). Link quickly ate one and put the rest back in his bag, now feeling much, much better. The giant caterpillar was heading straight towards Link- who slapped it in the nose. He didn't even use his sword, much to Ezlo's surprise. The monster was unaffected, though it did stop moving for a moment as Link got his sword off his back. The monster promptly tried to trample Link, but he was ready for it and whacked it in the nose with his sword, causing the monster to turn grey all over, and the end of its tail becoming a pink heart. Link stabbed the heart, and the monster exploded in a puff of white smoke.

A large chest appeared in the centre of the room. Link opened it after putting his sword back onto his back. Inside was a large-ish blue jar with a small pair of wings just below the rim of the pot's entrance. A note was also in the chest. It read,

'This is the Gust Jar. Use it to suck things up. Be warned- things that go in the jar will NEVER come out! How to use- focus magical energy into the handles of the jar. Grip them tightly. Remember, this will take practice and _try_ not to suck up your companions!'

Link experimented with it by sucking up some nearby webs. _(Apparently,)_ thought Ezlo, _(the boy knows how to do it perfectly already!)_ Next, Link sucked up all the pollen in the last room with great relief, as well as weakening a few of those walking mushrooms- Link briefly wondered wether it was a bad thing that he _enjoyed_ making the walking mushrooms 'go poof'. Link then backtracked to the barrel.

Ezlo noticed huge waves of magic potential coming from Link while he was busy sucking up the pollen. Suddenly, the strange strength and the fast learning made sense. However, neither were Link's gift. Ezlo knew that someone with Link's amount of magic potential would have a gift of magic- like Vaati, for example. Vaati could feel wether people were lying or hiding things from him. He could tell when one twisted their words or if it were a 'true' truth. His gift was the gift to sense truth- a rare and powerful gift only possessed by those of his ability. Ezlo felt guilty again about how bad he'd been at looking after Vaati... However, rare gifts had a corresponding price. Ezlo wondered what Link's gift was.

Next, Link sucked up the bouncy web which was covering the hole in the 'floor' of the barrel before putting the Gust Jar away in his bag. Link looked down at the faraway-seeming ground, feeling both fear and excitement- what an odd pair. Ezlo looked down there, too. Then he was suddenly hit with realisation. "You're not planning on JUMPING down there, are you?" asked Ezlo worriedly, "ARE YOU?!" Link looked up at Ezlo while Ezlo looked down at Link. Link's face had a large, adreniline-fueled smile on it, and his eye were sparkling with that _rush_ Link had never felt before now... he liked the feeling. The combination of fear and excitement. Link nodded, then leaped down the hole. He kept a tight grip on Ezlo's rim, effectively using him as a parachute. However, he accidentally let go of Ezlo too soon, and Ezlo plummeted to the shallow water first. He was fine, considering he was now a hat and therefore had no nerves to feel pain with- until Link fell directly on top of him.

"HEY!" Yelled Ezlo, "GET OFF ME, BOY!" Link's cheeks went rose-pink for the third time that day and he got off him, before politely looking Ezlo in the eye and saying,

"S-sorry, Mr. Ezlo..." But then it happened again. Link felt exactly what Ezlo felt...

 _Annoyance. Frustration. Realisation. Shock._

...and then deeper, past Ezlo's large black eye and his hat form...

 _Fondness. Guilt. A bit of sadness, that lingered there like a tiny pin inside. Determination. A bit of Selfishness. Something was dulling all these emotions, like a fluffy cloud of non-existance. Deep, deep Care for a certain Minish boy, like a sort of spiritual familial connection._

"AAAH-HA!" announced Ezlo, snapping Link out of his connection. "Do you have any idea what a rare gift that is, Boy?" Link stared blankly at him. Gift? It wasn't his birthday. Or anybody else's. Maybe it was Ezlo's birthday? "The gift of sharing souls! An incredibly rare gift which can stop WARS if used to its full potential! And potential is just the beginning, my boy... They say that gift's true magic power can allow one to feel the very life force of the world itself!" Announced Ezlo, bouncing around excitedly, but at this point, he stopped and his voice darkened. "However, powerful gifts like that have a corresponding price that is paid from birth, though they wax and wane with how developed the gift in question is. In this case, one is incapable of feeling a certain influential emotion, though one can feel it from others. The emotion varies depending on one's personality... Hnm?"

Ezlo realised that Link wasn't even there anymore. He looked to his left and saw that Link was currently looking a bit exasperated and pointing at a giant lily pad that could easily fit Link's entire school class and the teacher on it, which was floating right at near the edge of the deep water. Ezlo got the wrong idea and thought that this was a way of Link saying he was confused (Ezlo isn't the best at reading facial expressions).

 _Vaati gave him a really confused look._

 _"Hnm? Oh, sorry. Basically, you'll do 'awesome' in magic!"_

 _"...What price?"_

 _"For your gift, it's an inability to lie- and that can indeed be a bad thing. Of course, magic is a very precise thing, so one can write a lie or twist words around, just not speak a lie. Go on, try!"_

 _"My eyes a bl-red. Huh? My eyes are gre-red. Wha?!"_

 _"Hah! You see, my boy?"_

Link sighed and pointed at Ezlo, then at the lily pad. Link had decided that he'd done far too much talking for one day, so he was using other ways to communicate. Unfortunately, Ezlo was really hard to get though to...

"What now?" asked Ezlo, "Unless we find a way to travel across water, we won't be going much farther."

Link sighed again, much louder this time, and picked Ezlo up (At this point, Ezlo is really wet- not so pleasant to be on one's head) before walking on top of the lily pad and using the Gust Jar- which he'd used earlier to get the lily pad closer- to move the lily pad across the water. Ezlo finally got the idea. Link wondered about what Ezlo had said about his 'gift', having heard every word. Link didn't know the meaning of a word or two that Ezlo had said, and he didn't know what Ezlo meant by 'magic potential', 'magic ability', or 'magic power'. He decided to decipher it next time he got his hands on a dictionary.

Meanwhile, Ezlo gave up being grumpy about Link and started wondering just how many secrets Link was keeping. He clearly had incredible magic potential, but what would he be incapable of feeling? Fear? Joy? No... Not protectiveness, either... Hmm...

Link continued to travel by water, only stopping to leave a jar on a button to continue. Along the way, Link defeated a few very annoying, one-eyed bug-like monsters big enough to carry bombs. Eventually, he reached the room with the treasure chest from before. Now the puzzle was solved. Link put down the Gust Jar and put his sword back on his back before opening the chest and finding another small key. He then went back to the lily pad, where Ezlo was now dry again. Link put Ezlo back on his head. Secretly, Ezlo preferred being up there. Link used the Gust Jar to travel by water again, soon reaching a locked door on a patch of dry land, which he promptly opened and went through, leaving the lily pad behind.

Through it was another room filled with mushrooms and deep water. Link held on tightly to Ezlo as he went flying across the room, using the Gust Jar on the mushrooms he couldn't reach, soon reaching a large, blue chest at the centre of the room. He put the Gust Jar down on the floor next to him before opening the chest. Inside it was a humongous key as big as he was, with a big red gem, and the top was designed to look like horns. Link put it into his bag. _(W-Wow!)_ He thought, _(E-Ezlo was right! It really c-can hold anything now! I w-wonder how Grandpa will react...)_

He next took the map of Deepwood Shrine out of his bag, and worked out where the room with the door for the giant key was. He traced his steps right back to the entrance of the shrine, and sucked up some webs blocking the way to the next floor. On the next floor was a really large door with huge chains and an even huger lock keeping it shut. Link, with no difficulty whatsoever, used the humongous key to open it. The chains, lock and key slid into the wall, and the giant door opened. As soon as Link entered the room, the door closed behind him.

* * *

Outside the minish-sized shrine, a regular green slime-thing (also known as the big green chuchu) hopped onto the roof of the shrine, the gloopy slime that was its body soaking through the mossy roof and into the room just below it.

* * *

Link and Ezlo looked around as huge drops of green slime, each drop as large as a boulder, fell into the room through the (very much weakened) roof. Next, a green slime thing came too. Except right now, Link was just smaller than his own thumb would normally be. Which made the slime-thing HUGE. It easily very nearly took up the whole room! A second later, Link was running around the room trying not to get squashed while Ezlo tried to figure out how to beat this thing at this size. "Try the Gust Jar!" suggested Ezlo after a few minutes of thinking. Link did. He took out the Gust Jar and turned around, sucking up much of the slime-things slime, causing the slime-thing to lose balance, teeter a bit, then fall over. Link tried to slash it's 'head', but his teeny-weeny sword had no effect whatsoever on the gloopy, green slime. The monster soon righted itself. Link did it again, quickly stabbing its giant eye this time around. It reared up, made a huge, earthreal noise, then completely explodonated into a lot of white smoke, sending a sparkling purple thing high into the air...

The purple thing floated back down, radiating great earthen power, power that felt like the forest, and all the plants and animals, its power felt like life itself, from the skies, to the lands, to the very depths of Lake Hylia. That was the true powers of the Earth Element- Link and Ezlo had finally found it.

"The power of the earth is the source of all living things..." Said Ezlo, filled with awe at the element's incredible power. Link picked it up and put it in his bag. Behind him, a magical portal appeared, and Link went into it. One flash of green light later, Link was just outside the shrine's entrance. Now that all the excitement was over, Link felt very, very sleepy... His eyes began to close... _Darkness. Darkness, cloaking us, keeping us safe-_ THE NIGHTMARE!

 _"N-NOOO!"_ cried Link to the sky, almost like a ghost... His eyes snapped open. Link took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Wha? Huh? What?" asked Ezlo, disorientated. "Ah, we've got the Earth Element! You must go tell the elder at once! Then go to sleep! Did you know, you almost sounded like a ghost just now!"

At this point in time, the story was only just beginning. Neither of them had any clue what exactly those nightmares, or the ghostly cry, meant just yet...

Link had no intention of sleeping. Every time he slept, the nightmare came... He was scared of it, no, terrified of it.

"So!" said the Minish elder once they got to his house, "You have found the Earth Element! You are blessed with much courage and strength for one so young. If your commitment holds strong, head for Mount Crenel in the morning. There, you will find a man named Melari. Among all Minish, there is no-one more able to repair your sword. If you ask him, I am certain he will easily reforge your broken Picori Blade. I shall send word to him in advance. Travel safely. You are brave, but there are many evils now in the world." He then walked to the curtain on the left side of the room and opened it, revealing a secret door. "Leave through this door here. It will take you out of the forest quickly."

"Great elder, we are in your dept." Thanked Ezlo, politely, "We shall head to Mount Crenel first thing in the morning!"

They left through the door and used a portal/magic amplifier to grow, only to find that the way out was blocked by a huge pile of sharp, pointy rubble. They shrunk again and visited a minish mushroom house just outside the village in order to sak for some help.

"Green clothes? And a mystical hat?! Sir! Would you by chance be Link, the one who found the Earth Element? Surely you are! I have heard many people talk about you. I am Belari, researcher of antiques. I am also, well, a bit of an inventor. You know, you won't be able to get back to Hyrule Town, what with all the debris..." said the minish man inside the house.

"We already know that." cut in Ezlo.

"Here, I have something which might come in handy." He gave Link a Bomb Bag with ten bombs in it.

"Thank you." replied Ezlo, before Link left. Word travelled fast. They then grew again, and got back to Link's original size. It felt good for everything to be back in perspective. On the way out, this time Link stopped at a strange statue.

 _"Holder of the sacred powers, we grant you the power of wind..."_ Whispered a voice from the stone- then it exploded.

"Hm? Whoa! It... blew up? Hey, kid, look at where that stone marker used to be... there's some strange symbol on the ground. Yes, of course..." said Ezlo, realising what it was. A wind symbol reacting to Link's magical energy! "It must be... well, I haven't the foggiest, to be honest. Hm..." He covered up for it. Now was NOT the time to be explaining magic to Link. Link read the instructions on the Bomb Bag.

'Press a button next to the fuse. When it lights, drop the bomb and go somewhere else until it explodes. However, they will only work for those with sufficient magical energy due to how dangerous they are. Yes, like a safety latch. -Belari.

When Link got back to the rubble, he did just that with the bombs. He then left the woods and headed back to Grandpa Smith's house, Ezlo complaining all the while that 'kids shouldn't get bombs'.

"So this is your house..." said Ezlo, looking around, "Well, it seems like a nice place... So, where's my room?" Link first went to where Grandpa Smith was just finishing off a sword.

"Oh, welcome back, Link." said Grandpa Smith, "My, but you're looking so much stronger! Who's the hat?"

"I'm Ezlo." introduced Ezlo. "Yes, I'm a talking hat, no you're not crazy. I've been helping Link. You see, we went to see the Picori- as you call them -and as it turns out..." Ezlo explained everything that happened.

"Well then, Link, you should go to bed," said Grandpa Smith, "I'm going to have a talk with Mr. Ezlo." Link took Ezlo off and went to bed, but with no intention of sleeping.

Meanwhile, Ezlo stayed behind. "You don't seem very surprised that I'm a hat and I'm talking." he said.

"Trust me, you're not the strangest thing I've seen today." replied Mr. Smith, "All sorts of monsters showed up everywhere, and apparently, some weird purple guy called Vaati turned the princess- Link's best friend- into stone, and just to top it off, the picori are actually real. Tomorrow, Link won't be going to Mount Crenel- that's far too dangerous -I'll just reforge the sword myself."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Smith, but that isn't possible." explained Ezlo, "The Picori Blade is a magical item that requires magic-infused ore to be reforged. Not only that, but in order to find its power again, it will need the four elements. One of them is with us, one is on Mount Crenel, one's at Lake Hylia and the last one's near the swamp. In short, Link needs to do this."

"No, Hyrule's soldiers can take the elements." Argued Mr. Smith.

Ezlo sighed and explained, "Look, first off, we need to see a picori to fix the blade, secondly, it could be that all the elements are minish-sized, meaning Hyrule's soldiers would have no luck. I apologise, but Link has to do this."

"I... I know. I just don't want him going off and getting himself killed... Did you hear that his parents died because of an accident with that wild horse from Lon Lon Ranch? It was awful- Link has never been the same since. He never did speak much, but you'd be lucky to hear him say one sentence in an entire conversation, and he won't tell anyone why! Zelda said he said that it was his 'greatest secret of all'... Oh, but I'm sorry to bother you with that. You must be tired. Please, do rest. I have to make swords so the soldiers can protect Hyrule Town from the monsters. Please... look after my boy for me. He's only ten, after all, but... It's the only way." Smith sighed in relief. Secretly, he'd needed to talk about it for ages. It seemed that Link was the boy affected by Epona's accident. Ezlo pitied him. "It could have been worse..." murmured Smith, "...but Zelda was there for him during that difficult time... he couldn't have a better friend." He then muttered something about trusting Link to know how to use his medicines.

Ezlo just sat and thought for a bit. Here was a second chance, but could he take it?


	6. Chapter 6: Searching for the Light Force

**Updates are most likely going to start being slower due to Very Important Real Life Stuff. Sorry about that... Hopefully they'll speed up again after some time. So,**

 _in the last chapter,_

 _Link and Ezlo, though Ezlo was a bit reluctant to, went into Deepwood Shrine in search for the Earth Element. Link began showing huge amounts of magic potential, and Ezlo accidentally let it slip that he was closer to Vaati than one might assume. Link decided that he wanted to figure out just how the hat and the sorcerer knew each other. After defeating a larger-than-average slime-thing (also known as the big green chuchu) at minish size, Link and Ezlo found the Earth Element! The pair received a bag of bombs and got back to Link's grandpa's house, where Grandpa Smith had a little talk with Ezlo, revealing that Link was the one affected by Epona's accident- as well as something about Link and medicine..._

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Searching for the Light Force**

It was dawn, and Vaati was already awake and flying. He had decided that the 'sacred place' could very well be Royal Graveyard, located in Royal Valley, located somewhere in Haunted Forest. Vaati was heading there at that particular moment. Apparently, whoever had made the map was scared of ghosts, as there was a warning on the map saying 'Beware! Ghosts live here!'. Personally, Vaati wasn't scared of ghosts. After all, ghosts were dead people with heavy regrets. Vaati remembered, as he flew towards the graveyard, that ghosts needed someone with powerful magic to stay with, or they would disappear from existence. Perhaps that person had gotten ghosts confused with spirits. Everybody did that...

Vaati looked down, and saw Haunted Forest spread out below him in all directions. The trees were a sickly yellow-orange, and there were clouds of purple fog swirling through the trees. They were seemingly endless, yet the graveyard was supposed to be there. The area appeared to be cursed. There would be no entrance from the sky. Vaati turned back around and landed at the entrance of the forest. If he couldn't go over the forest, he'd have to go through it.

Inside the forest, there was exactly no light, and it was extremely dark. However, Vaati could see in the dark. He'd always been able to, and he used to think everybody could- until he'd been out on a little walk and _he'd_ bumped into him... No. Now was not the time to be thinking about _him_. Just in front of Vaati was a wooden sign that read 'up'.

 _(Up?)_ thought Vaati, _(As in, 'up ahead'?)_ Well, that was most likely, considering most people can't fly. A pesky, one-eyed, floating white monster known as a ghini tried to attack him, but Vaati blasted it with compressed wind (Very painful if you're the one who's hit) and followed the directions, ending up in another dark section of forest. Another ghini tried to attack him, but Vaati just blasted it then read another sign in this area. 'Left' it read.

The one after that read 'same as before'. _(Left.)_ thought Vaati, blasting another ghini.

After that, 'same as the beginning'. _(Up.)_ thought Vaati, blasting another ghini.

And after that, 'right'. _(Is there no end to this forest?!)_ thought Vaati, grumpily blasting yet ANOTHER ghini.

And after THAT, 'same as two before'. _(Up. Again.)_ thought Vaati, blasting one last ghini.

After all of that, he was deep into Royal Valley. It was still very, very, dark. Vaati walked toward a huge, locked gate. He could see that the graveyard was beyond he gate. However, Vaati could also see that if he tried to fly over the gate, he'd end up outside the forest again. It was just how these sealing curses worked. Vaati decided to find the key, so he began by barging into a nearby house. "Who's there?" asked a bald, completely hair-less old guy with a hunched back and a shovel asked, "Don't barge in, I haven't lit the fireplace..."

"Oh, but _I_ can see you very clearly... Now tell me, what do you know about sacred places around here, and what do you know about the light force?" asked Vaati, ominously.

The man was clearly too scared to light the fire now, and Vaati's red eye glowed in the dark with an iridescent gleam...

"Um... I know next to nothing about the light force, it's just some legendary power that probably doesn't even exist, and as for sacred places around here... there's the Royal Graveyard, but I can't find the key to there... I've gone and lost it." answered the man, "Why don't you leave now?"

"You lie." stated Vaati, "Where is the key?"

"Here!" cried the man, passing Vaati a rubbery, slightly bendy key. A fake... did this man think he was stupid? Vaai's eye narrowed.

"I'm not stupid. The real one, please." Demanded Vaati, unimpressed. That wasn't even a _good_ fake. He didn't even _need_ to use his gift to know that.

"Okay, okay, here it is!" yelled the man, pulling the real key out of his pocket and throwing it to Vaati, who caught it.

"See, that wasn't hard." said Vaati, the gleam in his eye fading as he left the house.

 _("What are you becoming? Hurting people? Scaring people? Maybe those people were right to be afraid of you.") _said Vaati's inner voice.

 _("Oh, please. you're powerful now. No-one can stop you. Once you make that power permanent, you'll finally feel safe.")_ said a darker voice, a more menacing voice.

 _("But will you BE safe? Power isn't the answer you're searching for!")_ argued the original, quiet little voice.

 _(GO AWAY!)_ screamed Vaati in his head, his feelings mixing up, confusing him. They BOTH made him feel scared. _(STOP IT! I DON'T WANT YOU THERE! I DON'T WANT TO FEEL ANYTHING! GO AWAY, go away... make these feelings stop!)_ _pride-horror-guilt-malevolence-fear-_ ** _rage..._ _Rage._ ** The cold _**rage**_ effectively nullified the two voices and got rid of Vaati's confliction, at least for now. His goal... he would focus on his goal. That way, he wouldn't have to feel anything.

Vaati quickly went back to the gate and opened it, leaving the key in the lock. He picked up a metal rod nearby and turned it into a metal shovel (a primary form of magic known as transformation magic). He did feel a wave of magic here, but it wasn't quite powerful enough to be the light force. However, Vaati thought that maybe it was buried so deep that he couldn't feel it properly.

An hour later, Vaati could barely believe the sorts of things buried around here... rupees, chests filled with odd blue sea shells, and _maybe_ some other stuff too... However, it had become clear that the light force was not around here. Vaati continued to explore the graveyard. Perhaps there was someone here who could help him figure out where the light force was. First, Vaati dropped the shovel then took out his map and pencil before crossing out all the places where the light force wasn't. He then tried to decide where it might be. Minish Woods was always an option. He also hadn't properly explored Hyrule Town or Castle properly yet. He would even search Mount Crenel or Castor Wilds if the light force wasn't anywhere else. If it wasn't there he was going to have to learn how to swim... because Lake Hylia would be the last place left, unless it was somewhere in between all those places...

"Boo!" suddenly yelled a voice behind him.

"That wasn't scary." stated Vaati, not even turning around. A white spirit with a red hat floated in front of him, and another spirit with a blue hat floated around him, stopping to the left of the spirit in the red hat.

"Sorry about that. I'm Spekter, and he's" Spekter pointed towards the spirit in the blue hat, "Spookter. He's always tryng to scare people... It's embarrassing."

"Never mind about that, do you two know anything about the light force?" asked Vaati.

"Nope." replied Spookter.

"We've barely even heard of it," added Spekter. Unfortunately, they spoke the truth. "but we know someone who could help you out!"

"Yeah! A friend called Gina! We'll show you where she is!" Finished Spookter.

They led the way, and Vaati followed them. Whoever Gina was, maybe she knew something useful. Vaati wasn't expecting to see a pink ghini with a bright red bow when they reached Gina's home. Vaati instantly prepared to attack, but then the pink ghini spoke.

"Wait! Pause! I'm Gina! Don't shoot, don't shoot... It would take me forever to find the way back home again." Insisted the pink ghini, looking worried. Vaati stopped his magic. "Wait... Pause there... You're VAATI, aren't you? Thanks SO much for getting me outta that box! You wouldn't believe how CRAMPED it was in there! I mean, really, I know I'm a ghini and to be fair, I used to be just as dumb and mindless as all those other monsters, but then a nice little girl was nice to me and POOF! I'm suddenly feeling emotions! And then some kid with a sword shows up and that awful bright light flashes everywhere and I'm stuck in a box. Some people are so rude..."

"Gina? You know Vaati?" asked Spekter, "Oh, that means you're the nice guy who helped Gina out!" Vaati was still talking to Gina.

"You were there." stated Vaati, "Then surely you know about the light force, don't you?"

"Do you mean that great big powerful bright yellow thing that hurt so much?" asked Gina.

"That sounds about right." replied Vaati, "Do you know where it's hidden?"

"No clue, sorry. All I know is that it definitely not here." replied Gina, "It won't be anywhere near us monsters, we can't go near the stuff without it burning like crazy... On another note, if you need some help, use summoning magic to bring me right over. I owe you a favour or two. Or more than two."

"I'll keep that in mind." said Vaati, thinking that maybe Gina's help would be useful at some point. He then turned to Spookter and Spekter. "I'll be going now." he told them, but then something made him say, "By the way, Hyrule Town is full of kiddies. I think they might be more easily spooked, Spookter."

After that, he left the graveyard, locking the gate, then dropping the key in the old man's chimney on the way out.

In the sky above Haunted Forest, Vaati crossed that place off the map. He decided to go to Minish Woods next. Maybe, just maybe, there were actual minish in there. If so, he could get some useful information from them. He also made a mental note not to accidentally go to Lake Hylia again. Flying once more, Vaati quickly made his way to Minish Woods. However, as he passed over Trilby Hylands, he spotted Link- wearing a green hat- running along as fast as he could. Vaati's eye widened as he felt the great power of Earth, the power of life itself, flow through to him from Link's bag. What was that boy called Link doing with the Element of Earth? How did he even find it? Vaati decided to ask somebody about that- he didn't want Link getting in his way! Then he remembered Link's words...

 _"Why d-do you feel no j-joy?"_

...that boy was hiding something, but now was not the time to dwell on that. Vaati passed Hyrule Town next, and spotted Malon and Talon speaking to some of Hyrule's soldiers. That would not be good... He soon landed on a bridge which led into Minish Woods, before going inside.

The woods were beautiful. There were boldly-colored plants everywhere, and rays of sunlight flickered through the trees. The grass were many shades of green, and there were bright red mushrooms and pretty blue flowers hiding among great big, leaves...

 _Seven-year-old Vaati wandered down a small pathway just outside the village. He looked at the beauty of the forest and felt a spark of happiness, of inspiration. Tiny, pure white sparks flickered from Vaati's fingertips, and delightful, pretty silver butterflies seemed to fly out of the palm of Vaati's left hand. He smiled for the first time in years- a true, innocent, genuine smile. He was finally ready._

Vaati bitterly remembered that memory. He never forgot those silver butterflies, and no doubt the teeny-weeny butterflies were still out there, somewhere. That had been his first bit of transformation magic. Transforming air into butterflies. Vaati also remembered what happened next. He'd proudly showed Ezlo what he could do -how he could really see far-smaller-than-minish-sized butterflies in the air- but he hadn't even pretended to be impressed. Back then, he hadn't quite trusted Ezlo (Vaati is not a very trusting person. It doesn't help that his first memory of Ezlo is waking up with no memories) but he had looked up to him. He had been beginning to feel closer to Ezlo, but then he had crushed Vaati's pride. _Crushed_ what he'd found in himself. He'd tried. He'd tried everything to impress Ezlo, but no matter what he did, it was never good enough. No, it should be better, Ezlo had always said.

 _"No, that's not right." said Ezlo, "Those butterflies are silver- they aren't charged with enough emotion, they should be gold. You're nearly ready, but not yet."_

 _Vaati had been crushed. It had taken him months upon months to bring those silver butterflies. Yet, even now, they never turned gold. In the end, they were just something else different about him. Different... right to the core._

Vaati, in some kind of trance, lifted his left hand, and pure white sparks danced from his finger tips, and he watched as two normal-sized butterflies formed from the air at his fingertips. They were beautiful, but not enough. Never enough. In the end, Ezlo had realised his mistake, but by then it was too late- Vaati would never look up to him the same way again, afraid of being crushed again.

 _(Once bitten, twice shy, as the saying goes...)_ thought Vaati... "Ouch." he said half a millisecond later. A hard lump of dirt had hit him in the back. Vaati whipped around to face... a red octorok. Vaati had done research on everything about The Human World, including all the legends and the facts about the monsters. As a minish octoroks were nearly unstoppable, but now? He blasted it, and a few others, with bolts of electrified air. That would teach them to shoot rocks at HIM. "Ezlo... I hope you realise that when I turn you into stone, it will be your fault for being so ignorant of my pain." Vaati told Ezlo, wherever he was. He felt somewhat sad when he said that aloud.

If he said it aloud, it had to be true... yet he suddenly found himself saying, "You cared, Ezlo. But you were clueless. You subconsciously expected me to be someone I wasn't... I was _different_ , and you too felt threatened." Vaati stopped talking. That was true too, it seemed. That meant... he _had_ cared. Of course he had... Vaati thinking he _didn't_ must have been a teenager thing. But Vaati wondered why everyone had felt threatened by him. Back then, Vaati had been the most _pathetic_ minish in the village. He'd been scared of practically _everything._ Vaati's eye looked down and narrowed slightly. "Well, _now_ I'm scary. _Now_ you can be afraid... _Now_ I truly am a threat. Ironically, it's all _your_ fault."

 _He_ had almost blinded him because _he_ believed that someone had to 'deal with' Vaati and it might as well be _him_. How sweetly ironic that it was _his_ actions which had truly made him dangerous... Thinking about all this, Vaati wandered though the forest, idly blasting octoroks and chuchus along the way. There was clearly no light force anywhere in the area, however, what happened was that Vaati's guilt faded away. He just stopped feeling it. Enough was enough. He would find the light force, turn Ezlo, and maybe Link, into stone, then he'd leave Hyrule and find his own path. A new start. Most of all, he would feel safe, and he would make himself safe.

 _(Actually,)_ thought an unnatural malevolent, cold part of Vaati, _(turn Ezlo to stone AND throw him into Lake Hylia. That will teach HIM!)_ chuckling at the thought, his eye an iridescent blood-red, Vaati wondered around some more until he spotted Minish Village. Leaning over, he carefully picked up a terrified minish and stepped forward to keep his balance, squashing Belari's house in the process (Random Story Fact: Belari was out testing his bombs at the time, and was shocked to see his house squashed when he got back. Vaati was long gone by that time).

"What do you know about the light force?" asked Vaati in his home dialect of minish.

"Unknown mysteri-cori, dialect-ipico, ripico-nut jabber?" replied the worried minish Vaati was holding by his clothes between his left finger and thumb.

"How annoying. A different dialect." grumbled Vaati in Hylian.

"Wait!" called a tiny voice from somewhere in the village, in Hylian, "You could try a jabber nut, they can help-"

"I'm allergic to them." cut off Vaati, iridescent eye narrowing at the village, generally towards the minish in the red priest outfit who had spoken. "The stuff gives me pink spots and I throw up. That was with a tiny bite of one! Now, who are you?" Vaati put down the minish he'd picked up and picked up the minish in glasses and the red hat.

"You are a Twilight Minish, correct? My name is Festari," greeted the minish, "and I would gladly appreciate it if you would put me down and kindly explain how your appearance and size have changed."

"Twilight Minish?" asked Vaati.

The iridescent gleam in Vaati's blood-red eye went away. Did this minish know of his origins? Suddenly, a thought occurred to Vaati- _(How can I overcome a past I don't even know? There are already many things I must overcome... but I'm curious. I shouldn't be, but I am.)_ he seemed innocently curious in that exact moment, even a little desperate.

"What, you don't know? I though there was no-one left of that race but I was clearly mistaken, as here you are! The purple, generally red-eyed or violet-eyed minish who only come out at night! I'm surprised you are awake! What brings you here? But first, please put me down." Vaati did so, his head swimming with somewhat hopeful thoughts.

"I'm actually part of a race of Minish? Not some freak?" asked Vaati, who was now too desprate for answers to even think of the light force right now.

"Hmm? You really don't know?" wondered Festari out loud.

"No... I was rescued by a minish at the age of three," Vaati found himself explaining, "I never knew why I was so different... I had lost all my memories the day I was rescued... I don't remember any minish like me. Are you saying I'm the only one left?"

"Yes, unfortunately." explained Festari, "You see, Gentari -our elder- 's father came from The Minish World, and his father told him about the Twilight Minish, and Gentari told me that the Twilight Minish were dying- there was nothing anybody could do. Floods, cuccos, terrifying big things that squash entire villages... They were all being taken in their sleep, while everyone else was awake. I'm sorry..."

"That's terrible..." said Vaati, a single tear dropping from his eye to the ground. "But... now..." Vaati now had no reason to go back to The Minish World. His innocent curiosity was satisfied, and it too, like the guilt, faded away, leaving a satisfied, empty, dark coldness... Now there was nothing but who he would be now. An iridescent, malevolent, scary gleam came into Vaati's eye...

"What do you know about the light force?" asked Vaati.

"Its power is legendary, and it can be found -well, the secret to its location can be found- within a secret, underground cave somewhere in Hyrule." answered Festari, "Why do you want to know?"

Vaati turned his back on the village and began to walk away while giving his answer, "When I find it, my true magic potential will be released. No-one and nothing will stop me from reaching my goals... I will b- _feel_ safe." Finished Vaati, now somewhere in the distance to Festari.

* * *

Something in Festari's brain clicked as he remembered something important. "Your name doesn't happen to be Vaati, does it?" he called after the mysterious purple sorcerer, worried.

"Yes. My name is Vaati," replied Vaati, without turning around, waving his left hand into the air as he left, "and I thank you for your help."

Festari stared after him as he mysteriously seemed to fade into the distance, finally realising his mistake. However, Vaati had sounded sincere, even desperate, when he'd asked about the Twilight Minish. When he learnt that there weren't any but him... it was like a lot of what was holding him back was now gone. But was that good? Or bad? Only time would tell...

* * *

Vaati had never felt so free in his life. Festari had been speaking the absolute truth, even if he had been uncertain of it. Vaati could now focus on he future in a world full of references to the past. If only he could just tell himself where the light force was... but his gift didn't work that way. If he tried that, there would be no truth or lie to examine, just uncertainty.

Exiting the forest, Vaati came across a large pile of spiky rubble blocking the way. Flying over it, Vaati spotted a strange, humanoid creature which appeared to be mostly made of rock. It had flakes of rock in its hair, it had blue eyes, and it was pounding at the blocked-up, decorated, entrance to a cave.

"Hello." said Vaati.

"Hello," replied the strange rock-creature, "you may not know this, but I'm a goron. My name is Granite, goro! You are, goro?"

"Vaati," replied Vaati, "the Wind Sorcerer." It was strange that the gift accepted that as truth, no uncertainty involved. It was who he was, what he'd grown into. The one and only wind sorcerer of Hyrule. How things changed so quickly... or had it been truth all along?

"I'm trying to bust into this cave, goro," explained Granite the goron, "but I just don't have the energy, you know?"

"Hmm..." said Vaati walking past Granite and examined the wall. Vaati could feel it! Powerful yet faint waves of magical energy pulsing through this cave! No doubt it was well-potected, and this wall was clearly human-made, as it was a mixture of iron, rock, other metals, and quetzallite all melted together with wheat to make some kind of extremely hard cement. However, there were no magical enchantments, and had the entrance not been decorated around the edge (by the goron- Vaati doesn't know that), he would never have seen it. This could very well be the secret cave that Festari mentioned! Deep within it could be the sacred place, built to hold the light force! What a stroke of luck that the goron was here- you see, that certain kind of crystal, quetzallite, is a strong magic-repellant. Vaati would never have been able to break it, but this goron had some hard fists- a creature made of hard rock would be very endurant and possibly resistant to physical pain.

Vaati stepped back and said, "Well, good luck!", placing his hand on the goron's curved, rocky back and sending energy flowing through the goron's very nerves (this is a king of magic known as energy transference- a secondary magic) past the rocky exterior. He then stepped back a bit more as a refreshed look came over the goron's face.

"Wow! A power boost, goro! I feel all revved up, goro!" he announced, before pounding on the wall with twice the energy of before, sending bits of rock, metal and crystal flying everywhere. The very wind currents shifted around to prevent anything from touching Vaati. He didn't even need to think for it to happen, such is the way of elemental magic. Soon, the Granite had pounded his way right into the cave. Vaati followed him inside.

Inside was another wall, even thicker and wider than the first one, made of exactly the same materials as the one before, and the entire cave was lined with it... obviously a trick to make one think they'd reached the back of the cave. Granite seemed pretty convinced that there was more beyond it, and the magical energy waves were stronger now- if only by a bit. Either way, one goron alone would not be able to break it, even with a magical energy boost. Granite tried to pound it anyway- but soon paused to catch his breath. He'd used up all the extra energy, it seemed.

"Oof... This is one tough wall! I'm gonna need some help, goro!" huffed Granite.

"Unfortunately, I'm not really one to punch walls down..." explained Vaati.

"Don't worry, I know a few gorons who could help me out," reassured Granite, "but they tend to wander around, goro. I think you should search for one called Limestone first, goro. He might be my granddad and too old to help me out, goro, but he's a merchant who travels around Hyrule, and he might know where the other gorons are, Goro-Vaati!"

"Thank you." Vaati said, leaving the cave to go and find Limestone. It wouldn't be hard, as he had the sufficient information needed to use a tracking spell (an advanced magic which works by connecting a map with a person's spiritual presence. It's not too complicated to pull off, all one needs is certain information about the person, namely their names and general species, and some idea of their location), which would mark Limestone's location on his map. The mark would move across the map with whoever the magic was tracking, even if said person teleported. Vaati did the tracking spell. A silver symbol -a diamond with three triangles coming out from the top- appeared on the road at Trilby Highlands. That was where Limestone was. Vaati teleported as close as he could to it, then continued to fly towards it, occasionally checking the map in case Limestone moved anywhere. As he flew, Vaati ate a small pastry for lunch.

It didn't take very long, as predicted, to find him. The old goron was walking along the road, eating a rock. Vaati landed nearby.

"Hello. Are you Limestone?" asked Vaati.

"Yes, goro." he replied, "Do you want to buy anything, goro?"

"No, I'm Vaati and I'm searching for the other gorons. Granite needs help breaking a wall." Vaati replied.

"That sounds just like Granite, goro!" chuckled Limestone, "Well, I know a goron called Basalt. He's Granite's brother! Last time I met up with him, which was a few hours ago, he was checking out this cave in South Hyrule Field. I don't know where any of the others might be, but I'm sure he knows where somebody is. Good luck, goro!"

"Thank you." said Vaati, doing the tracking spell again after Limestone continued down the road towards Hyrule Town. The silver mark had disappeared when Vaati had found Limestone, but now it had reappeared, showing Basalt's location- a cave somewhere south of 'Master Smith's House', as it was labelled on the map. Vaati noted that he would have to be careful since somebody lived over there.

Once again, Vaati simply teleported as close as he could, then flew the rest of the way. Next, he began walking to the cave Basalt was in, checking the map every so often, in case he moved somewhere else. Vaati spotted the cave and took one more step towards it, fogetting to look around first- but a familiar very loud voice yelled, "HEY! THERE HE IS! BEHIND YOU LOT! VAATI'S _BEHIND_ YOU!"

Vaati turned around to see Link's grandfather, who turned out to be 'Master Smith', and a bunch of Hyrule's soldiers, who were in front of Smith, all looking at him. _(Here we go again...)_ Thought Vaati as the soldiers attacked him. This time they came rushing with swords instead of spears, but he wasn't even _trying_ to send them flying; they weren't even worth turning to stone. Link's grumpy grandpa watched in disbelief (that Hyrule's army was so weak, _not_ at Vaati's sorcery) as the very air danced with Vaati's fingertips and roared when Vaati spread his arms, and as the soldiers were all sent flying by the air responding to Vaati's general annoyance. It was as if he were swatting away flies.

"What a bunch of slackers." grumbled Smith, unimpressed and not even fazed by Vaati's extremely powerful elemental magic (it is rare to the extreme to be born with a true connection to an element, and it is the toughest of the tough to build a true connection with an element, but of course, Smith knows nothing about magic and sees it as 'cheating') and instead thinking that Hyrule's soldiers should take their job more seriously- which was, in fact, what Vaati was thinking too.

"I agree." answered Vaati on impulse, "Honestly, it's pathetic. No wonder people are so afraid of nothing," he blasted a nearby octoroc, "if _this_ is all they've got for protection. Those soldiers should take their job more seriously."

"Definitely true." grumbled Smith before they both remembered who the other was talking to. There was a moment of awkward silence as Vaati and Smith turned to face each other. Much to Smith's surprise, Vaati smiled a little when they met each other's eyes/eye. Just for three seconds, Smith saw a timid, insecure, lonely boy just three years older than Link standing there instead of a supposedly evil wind sorcerer. Smith blinked a little, and so did Vaati. His smile was now gone.

"My grandson's out there risking his life because of you!" barked Smith angrily, "I'll show you what's what, young lad!" With that, Smith drew a sword he was carrying around incase of this particular situation, and held it expertly in front of him. This time, instead of that cold, unnatural malevolence, Vaati felt something new. Something... pleasant. determined, yet... relaxed. It felt warm. Vaati's eye softened as he formed a violet-crystal sword from the very air, moving his left hand as if he were drawing a sword, which he was. Just like he could see butterflies in the air, he could draw a sword which wasn't there. _That_ was how his powers could work together in contradicting harmony. The wind swirled gently around him, as if it was pushing him forward, letting him know it was there to help.

Smith and Vaati charged at one another. Their swords clashed, and pure white sparks flew through the air. What was that warm feeling of... _rivalry_? Vaati felt curious again. They continued slashing at one another, both matching the other's moves. Faster, faster... their swords were a violet-silver blur.

 _Their swords were a silver blur. Two-and-a-half-year-old Vaati felt the feeling of rivalry._

 _"That's it... keep going, Vaati!" encouraged a familiar voice, of who Vaati could not quite place._

 _Vaati's warm, rivalry feeling burst into a determined, electrified storm. His face broke into a wide, happy smile and his eyes focused, his pupils narrowing into cat-like slits..._

Vaati's warm, rivalry feeling burst into a determined , electrified storm. The wind swirled strongly around him, and the very air was electrified. His face broke into a wide, _happy_ smile and his eye focused, his pupil narrowing into a cat-like slit...

Smith smiled too. This, to him, was almost like the old days against the king, yet it was clear that the boy's skills were somewhat out of practice, like he was imitating a memory. Wait, what was he thinking?! This wasn't a mere boy he was up against, it was a questionably evil sorcerer!

 _...Vaati leaped into the sky, landing behind his opponent, catching him off-guard..._

...Vaat leapt into the sky, landing behind Smith, catching him off-gaurd...

 _...and put the sword's tip right at the back of his opponent's neck._

 _"Well done, Vaati!" cheered the familiar minish, "see? You can do it if you try!"_

...and put the sword's tip right at the back of Smith's neck. The electrified air seemed to cool down and Vaati's eye went back to normal as Smith tried to figure out what the sorcerer had just done. "What? How? Where did you learn that?" asked Smith, confused.

"I'd like to know that too..." replied Vaati, voice somewhere in the distance... before he summoned a heavy rock into the sky, where it fell onto Smith's head, knocking him out. Vaati just didn't have the heart to turn him into stone... That, and he just didn't see the loud old man as a satue. Funny... Smith reminded him of another loud old man called Ezlo. That's when the guilt came back too, but only for a second before it faded again. Vaati turned the magic sword back to air and used a strong air current to push Smith back into his house. Fewf... apparently, Link's grandpa was a bigger force to be reckoned with than all the soldiers of Hyrule!

* * *

Smith woke up an hour later in his living room/dining room/kitchen. His head was pounding. Smith quickly remembered his little encounter with Vaati, and muttered, "That boy's got a good head on his shoulders..." before remembering that Vaati turned the princess to stone and was the cause of Link going to Mount Crenel and risking his life! Of course Vaati was evil, only evil people did stuff like that! But... the purple sorcerer had seemed like somebody else in that moment of time... and during that fight... they'd both been genuinely having _fun_. Maybe, just maybe, the odd thirteen-year-old boy wasn't evil at all, but that would never excuse him for doing evil things. _Somebody_ would have to make sure he was brought to justice, even if it had to be Smith himself.

* * *

... What was with this topsy-turvy human world, where old people were better at fighting than members of the army? Humans were interesting... Just then, the goron with blue eyes called Basalt came walking out of a cave, and right by Vaati, totally oblivious to the battle Vaati had just won, rubbing his belly.

"Yum! That was a good meal, goro!" He said, "What a buffet! I have to tell the others, goro..."

"Hey! Are you Basalt?" asked Vaati.

"Yeah, goro! And you are?" replied Basalt.

"Vaati. Granite needs help breaking a wall! He said to ask Limestone where the other gorons are, and he said you were here!"

"Hah! That is so like him, goro! Could you show me where he is, Goro-Vaati?" asked Basalt.

"Sure." confirmed Vaati, "Follow me." The goron followed as Vaati led him over to that cave near Lon Lon Ranch.

"Be careful, goro, I heard there was a dangerous sorcerer around here." advised Basalt. Vaati thought it best not to answer that, in case he blurted out the truth and blew his own cover. It was only a few minutes before they got to the pile of rubble blocking the cave. Basalt smashed his way through it and then continued into the cave with Vaati behind him.

"Hey, I'm here to help, goro!" hollered Basalt, walking next to Granite. The two of them pounded at that wall, and soon smashed right through it- only to see ANOTHER wall where the cave began to widen, even thinker, tougher and longer than the first two walls- also made of the same materials. Vaati felt the powerful magical energy waves- they were stronger than before! Once again, the gorons and Vaati were adamant that there was more beyond the next wall. Granite and Basalt pounded with all their strength and a little energy boost from Vaati, but it was no good. The wall, while it was slightly damaged, wouldn't budge.

"This wall is tough, goro!" panted Granite.

"We're gonna need some more help, goro!" huffed Basalt.

"I'm no good at pounding walls," explained Vaati, "but do you know where any of the other gorons might be?"

"Yeah- my best friends, Obsidian and Tuff, mentioned that they were going to Mount Crenel to find some tasty rocks, goro. You know, I can smell some delicious ones in here, goro!" Helpfully explained Basalt.

"Thanks for all your help, Goro-Vaati!" announced Granite, "We're gonna keep on pounding at this wall!"

Vaati was already leaving. "Don't mention it..." he said, rolling his eye. He was getting tired of these walls already. Hopefully the light force would be here. He was checking other places along the way (by flying just above the tree-tops), just in case, but so far there was nothing that could be even remotely related to the light force. Vaati did the tracking spell again. Two crests appeared around the base of Mount Crenel, so that was where he headed next. Really, this was getting redundant. Whoever built that place sure knew what they were doing... Surely such a well-hidden, protected and mis-leading place would hold the light force... right? Well, he hoped so, because news was spreading and he couldn't stay invisible for long- it drains one's magic very quickly, even if one has an affinity for transformation magic (one of the five primary magics) and has seen oneself as invisible for five years straight and a little longer than that.

Vaati checked the map, then landed in front of a large, lumpy rock wall witch could be climbed on, though most of the rocks seemed very loose. Vaati looked up and saw two gorons, one with four red arm-bands (two on ecah arm) and four red leg-bands (two on each leg). The other wore a jet-black scarf. Both of them had blue eyes, Vaati could see if he squinted a bit.

"Hello?" He called up to them, "Are you two Obsidian and Tuff?"

"Yes, goro!" they both called down to him at the same time.

"Granite needs help breaking a wall!" yelled Vaati, "He asked me to ask Limestone where the other gorons were, and he told me where Basalt was, and when Basalt helped Granite, he told me where you two were! He also told me that he smelt tasty rocks over there!"

"Hah, that it just like them, goro!" chuckled the goron in red arm-bands.

"Let's go help them, Tuff!" added the one in the jet-back scarf, "Could you please show us where they are, goro...?"

"Vaati," loudly replied Vaati, "and yes, I will!"

"Look out below!" warned the goron in red arm-bands, Tuff, before the gorons leapt down the wall- Vaati barely got out of the way in time! They then followed Vaati all the way past Trilby Highlands, Vaati sneakily made them all invisible -thankfully the gorons were too busy talking to notice- as they went through Hyrule Town, and made them all visible again as they went through South Hyrule Field (far above Smith's house), and finally, past the remains of the large pile of rubble and into the cave.

"Oh, goro, I _do_ smell delicious rocks, goro!" happily commentated Tuff, rushing off to help Granite and Basalt were.

"We'll be pleased to help, goro!" excitedly added Obsidian, "Thanks for showing us here, Goro-Vaati!" She went forward and helped her friends pound at the wall.

The four gorons smashed through the wall, and they eagerly continued deeper into the cave, where it continued to get wider. When the dust cleared, there, in front of them... was yet ANOTHER wall, believe it or not, the thickest, toughest, widest wall the gorons and Vaati had ever seen. The magical waves were so strong now that Vaati could _touch_ them, so close... yet so far.

Even four gorons plus Vaati's magical energy boost weren't enough to break such an incredibly tough wall.

"Whew! This is one tough wall, goro!" puffed Tuff.

"Yes, goro, we do need more help." agreed Obsidian, out of breath.

"I can't smash walls." explained Vaati for the third time that day, "Do either of you know where any other gorons are?"

"Well, could you go find my cousin, Rhinestone? She'll be more than happy to help, and she's obsessed with swimming." suggested Obsidian.

"Good luck! We'll keep smashing this wall." added Basalt.

"Thanks again for all your help, Goro-Vaati!" enthusiastically concluded Granite.

Vaati just did the tracking spell when they were all busy smashing the wall again, and saw that Rhinestone was right in the middle of Lake Hylia as he'd thought, probably swimming. Vaati gulped. It seemed he'd been right. However, it was getting late, so Vaati wrote in his diary. The entry read,

'Age- 13 years old. Date- 17th of August, 307.

To whoever reads this thing,

Today I continued my search for the light force. I searched Haunted Forest and Royal Valley with no luck, unfortunately. In Minish Woods, I discovered something monumental! I'm actually a Twilight Minish- part of a nearly extinct -the last one, namely, being ME- race. I had a fun battle with Link's grandfather, who somewhat reminds me of Ezlo, and I felt this strange, warm, rivalry feeling... I remembered someone familiar- a minish like me. Who are you, I wonder? I've finally become closer to the light force, as it could be within this very cave I'm writing in right now. All I have to do is find a goron called Rhinestone... who's in the middle of Lake Hylia... Goodnight to you, I'm going to need energy and resolve to do this...

-Vaati.'

After putting the diary away again, Vaati curled up on the floor of the cave and fell fast asleep for the night. If one were to look at him, they would see him twitch, hear him scream in his sleep, watch as he curled up tighter in fear, and if one watched for long enough, maybe they would see his tears, or feel his pain of the past he was so afraid of...


	7. Chapter 7: Climbing Mount Crenel

**I think I might be able to get a chapter posted every once every two weeks, generally on a Saturday or a Sunday. By the way, you might want to check Chapter 6 again, I added a couple of important details at the end of it, in Vaati's Diary and past it. I also MAJORLY edited the flashback of Link's nightmare in chapter 5. That sort of major edit probably won't be happening again, hopefully. 'Va-' is pronounced 'Vah'. So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Vaati went through Haunted Forest first, scaring the gravedigger into giving him the key to Royal Graveyard. There was no light force there. Vaati met two spirits called Spookter and Speckter, and an odd pink ghini called Ghina, who gave Vaati permission to summon her if he needed help. That could be useful. Along the way to Minish Woods, Vaati felt the elemental power of Earth coming from Link's bag- what was that boy up to? What was he hiding? In Minish Woods, Festari revealed that Vaati was part of a race of minish called Twilight Minish, but that Vaati was the last one left. Vaati had never felt so free. Next, he discovered a well-protected cave where the light force could be, and also where a goron called Granite was willing to help- however, those magic-proof walls were tough. While tracking down Granite's wandering friends and relatives, Vaati had a fun, yes fun, battle with Smith, Link's grandpa, and remembered a minish like him. However, Obsidian's cousin, Rhinestone, was right in the middle of Lake Hylia, and if one had seen Vaati asleep that night, one would have seen his tears..._

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Climbing Mount Crenel is no Piece of Cake**

It was past midnight. Link tried not to sleep, not even changing out of his tunic, but with no success. He fell fast asleep anyway...

 _Fighting. Fighting. A battle going on, over the few resources the purple minish had. Link, seeing through another's eyes, protected this person's little one-year-old brother. They only had each other. A terrifying sound, a gigantic, booming "MEOW!" echoing across the valley upland. Link, though the older brother's eyes, looked up at the giant beast, a giant, tabby-coated CAT with a swishing tail as long as a river and claws that sliced the very air in half, minish grabbing whatever and fleeing for their lives... A piercing scream from the younger brother echoed through the stars..._

 _Marks. Marks. T-shaped marks under his two-year old brother's blood-red eyes. Fighting. Fleeing. Huge birds, their wings alone sweeping minish away with every beat, its huge beak pecking at the ground. Another place, another time, where the wind whipped through the trees, with nowhere to call home, nowhere to stop being blown away. Older brother looked down at three-year-old younger brother, who's eyes were filled with tears as the wind almost seemed to respect him..._

 _Water. Water. Lots of water, flooding a place that could have been home._

 _Screaming. Struggling. Pain._

 _Younger brother being whisked away, crying out for help, emotional pain too much for Link, whoever he was, to bear._

 _"Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"_

 _Drowning._

 _Cold. Cold. Why this cold, at the end of this daily nightmare?_

"WAKE UP BOY!" yelled Ezlo in Link's ear. Ezlo was officially weirded out. Link had been tossing and turning in his sleep- then he'd cried out, in a voice not his own, 'Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-'. So naturally, Ezlo thought it best to wake the strange boy up. It seemed his grandfather was already awake and out of bed. Link bolted out of bed and subconsciously put Ezlo on before- "BOY!" yelled Ezlo, quieter than usual because Link's grandpa was in the house, but still very loud. "Oh... are you awake?" Link nodded. "GOOD, because you're going up Mount Crenel today!"

Link and Ezlo went downstairs, where Grandpa Smith was making breakfast- fried eggs. Ezlo didn't recognise them. "What are those?" he asked, looking at the eggs on his plate.

"Fried eggs." replied Mr. Smith.

"What's an 'egg'?" asked Ezlo.

"Erm... how do I put it..." muttered Mr. Smith.

"F-food?" suggested Link, who was always looking for ways he could help people out, innocently staring at Ezlo and his confusion.

"Okay..." replied Ezlo, nibbling a bit at his fried 'eggs'. It tasted okay... but there was something odd about the flavour that Ezlo couldn't quite place. He thought he would have preferred dew-moss on toast, but he politely finished the eggs anyway.

Link snaffled his in five minutes before going over to the sink and washing his plate, then heading upstairs in a big hurry. Ezlo wondered what he was going to do up there.

Link was upstairs raiding the cabinet, the boxes he'd never unpacked, the windowsill and everywhere else for anything useful and a few not-useful things, putting it all in the dimensional hole in his bag. Those things were: Food supplies, a sleeping bag, Grandpa Smith's old bike helmet, his giant butterfly net, four giant packets of pansilla (a popular type of fast-growing garden flower which grows everywhere, said to spread beautiful silver pollen at night, and are also said to spread their seeds though the air. This all happens within a couple of weeks) seeds, a spare belt and tunic, his medicines, two spare hammers, his collection of all-those-hair-ties-Zelda-was-always-leaving-at-his-house, a spare pillow, a football, a spare pair of boots, a picnic rug, two old notebooks, three pencils, a pencil-sharpener, a bunch of colourful dried flowers, a tea spoon, a pair of scissors, thirteen bottles of water (each one is rather SMALL, you see), that-green-hairbrush-Zelda-gave-him-and-that-he-hadn't-used-once-in-his-life, a jade-green watering can which was filled with water, three packets of the medium-sized packets of special flower fertiliser, and his single blue rose (nearly in full bloom) in a pot. Really, that bag would _definitely_ hold anything now!

Meanwhile, Ezlo and Mr. Smith had a very civilised conversation and Ezlo thanked Smith for his hospitality. Just then, Link came back down the stairs, eyes sparkling and Link feeling excited and curious (the combination is curious in itself) and sitting right back at his place from fifteen minutes earlier. Link took a notebook and a pencil from his bag. Grandpa Smith began a small speech about how to safely climb Mount Crenel.

"When I was eighteen, I went to do sword fighting training on Mount Crenel." began Smith, "SO, from my experience, I'm going to give you a VERY IMPORTANT bit of advice: _use the plants_. Just pour water on the sprouts near the walls, and they'll grow into huge and thick vines! Use this bottle," Smith passed Link a regular glass bottle. He paused from enthusiastically taking notes to put the bottle away in his bag while Ezlo sheepinshly tried to be useful. "Did you pack my old bike helmet?" Link nodded. "GOOD. Wear it when you reach the part of the mountain that hasn't got any plants, just in case a big rock falls on your head! Also, pack the big cloth from he upstairs cupboard (Smith's old parachute), if you fall it should break your fall." In answer, Link picked up Ezlo and stretched him out, showing Grandpa Smith that Ezlo made a very good emergency parachute. Ezlo felt no pain, just an odd tingling sensation. "... I think you're right."

 _(He didn't say anything!)_ thought Ezlo while Link put him back down.

"Now, pass me your map." Link did, and Smith wrote something on it, before showing Link and Ezlo a path he'd drawn on there. " This is the fastest way to and up Mount Crenel. Did you get all that?" Asked Smith. Link nodded. "GOOD. Be safe... Don't get yourself killed, okay?" In response to his grandpa's extreme worry, Link gave him a huge, warm, reassuring hug. Ezlo watched the scene and smiled warmly for the first time in a while. It was touching.

After the hug, Link helped wash the dishes and Smith packed Link a few pack lunches, before Link put Ezlo back on and leaving the house, following Grandpa Smith's path. Link was extremely tired, having barely had any sleep last night, but he would not face the nightmare if he could help it, unless it would save Zelda of course. However, facing a nightmare does not save best-freind-in-the-entire-world-who's-stuck-by-you-during-the-toughest-times-of-your-life-s. Ezlo noticed that Link wasn't as peppy as usual but he didn't address it, after all he barely knew the somewhat overly-innocent boy, and he didn't know if Link was sleep-deprived or not- HE had fallen asleep as soon as he was in bed. Outside, it was very sunny, which gave Link an extra boost of energy for the adventure. Following the map, Link walked into Hyrule Town.

"So we're supposed to meet a minish blacksmith named Melari on Mount Crenel? You know, you're not looking too good." said Ezlo as soon as they were inside Hyrule Town. Before he could say anything else, a Mr. Jello, the man who always wore the funny outfit and held a music box, Jack, Molly and Zill, who was the smallest but also the leader of their group of friends, all came over to where Link was, blocking the way forward.

"Come on all, come on all!" sang Mr. Jello, "See how many kinstone pieces you can collect!" Kinstone pieces? Now? Link had always wanted a kinstone bag of his own. However, Zelda was far more important than some bag. She'd be bored to _death_ standing there all day and night! What if she was already dead?! Link had to find some way of getting them out the way, fast! "You never know what fusing kinstones can do, but its sure to be good! Come on up and get your free kinstone bag for holding your kinstone pieces! Don't miss out on this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Ezlo was getting very close to shouting at them. Couldn't they see they were on an important mission?! Time was of the essence!

"Yes, yes, you're here for your free kinstone bag aren't you? They're free for all kids right now! Here you go!" Mr. Jello slammed a kinstone piece into Link's hands, and Link attached it to his belt. "Want to fuse kinstones with me?" Fusing kinstones is a way of showing and spreading friendship across Hyrule and a very important custom- besides, Mr Jello, Zill, Jack and Molly were all the sort of people who go 'pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease' for hours if you say 'no'.

"N-Mmmf!" Ezlo tried to say, but Link held his beak shut- and that kid was strong. Link used his other hand to fuse kinstones with the guy with the music box. Ezlo wondered what would happen. The kinstone transformed into an emerald-citrine spark and zoomed into the air.

"A perfect fit! That means we're due for a little happiness! See ya!" said Mr Jello, walking off with Molly, Jack and Zill. Link let go of Ezlo and ran straight towards the west gate of town.

"What was THAT for, Boy?" yelled Ezlo, but Link wasn't listening. At the main square, Pina was selling all fruits except for tomatoes and Brocco was selling all vegetables and tomatoes. Link paused for a second to help clean up some dust which was clogging the stalls up for rent, before running straight to the gate, which was unfortunately being guarded by a soldier known as 'I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim' (the original misconception by Princess Zelda had led to everyone in Hyrule calling the somewhat carefree soldier that).

Upon seeing Link walk towards him, the soldier said, "Just because you have a sword and shield doesn't mean you'll be safe! I can't let you go out there alone! Not until you've learned a sword technique!" (you see, Link has learned many sword skills, but hasn't learned any magic sword techniques yet!) Link nodded and was just about to leave, but Ezlo was fuming! Had Link not grabbed his beak again he'd have yelled that guard into next week, Ezlo thought!

"But it might take you _months_ to learn a sword technique! Take it from me, that guard meant 'not until you're older'..." grumbled Ezlo once Link let go of him. He was finding it extremely frustrating that Link wasn't saying anything. "What's _wrong_ with you?!" howled Ezlo, "You're acting funny and not saying a word! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME, BOY?!"

 _(He's a-annoying,)_ thought Link, _(and v-very yell-y.)_

Link went into Swiftblade's School for Sword Fighting, where Link had learned nearly everything he knew about sword fighting. Link also remembered that Swiftblade had said he would teach Link a 'special technique' next time he showed up for a lesson. Ezlo stopped complaining.

"Hello, Link!" greeted Swiftblade, "I shall teach you a technique today! If you train with me, I guarantee that your skill will improve dramatically! So? Will you train here again, Link? I warn you, techniques take a long time!" Link, somewhat sleepily, nodded, before taking Ezlo off and putting him to the side of the room. "I shall teach you the most basic of techniques! The spin attack! First! Concentrate and let magic run into your sword! Second! build up enough power... Third! Release your destructive might! That's all, young Link! Do you understand?" Link nodded, noticing that Swiftblade was feeling overly proud of himself.

Meanwhile, Ezlo was getting crosser and crosser. What was with that BOY?! Whe didn't he EXPLAIN that he was off to save the princess? Wasn't that soldier IMFORMED?! People were so hopeless these days...

"Haha! Very good! You are a very quick student. But one must FEEL the technique, not just hear about it! That's why I shall now possess your body as so to demonstrate the technique! I call this the Swiftblade Possession Technique of Training!"

"..." Link was feeling sleepy, but he knew he'd get this right. After all, he'd never really had to try to get these things right.

"Possession?!" squawked Ezlo, "DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THAT CAN GET?! Possession can have nasty side effects!"

Swiftblade was too busy concentrating and not believing in talking hats to hear him. Link was actually taking a quick nap while nobody was looking becauspe of how tired he was. The nap was so quick that the nightmare had no time to form.

"Watch this! Urrngh! Poe... Zeh... Shun!" announced Swiftblade.

Possession by soul transference?! What was that guy thinking?! Link seemed fine about it, but then, Link was TEN. Link didn't KNOW, did he?

"HEY!" yelled Ezlo, "LISTEN!"

But it was too late. Link felt Swiftblade take over for ten seconds as he did the spin attack. Then Swiftblade left Link's control system. Ezlo noticed that Swiftblade clearly had no idea what he was meddling with. These people just weren't EDUCATED...

"Phew... Now! You must try it yourself!" said Swiftblade, clearly expecting Link to fail. Link surprised both Swiftblade and Ezlo when he promptly performed the technique perfectly. Ezlo remembered Link's magic potential, but really, focus magic alone doesn't help one learn things to that degree of perfection after one try... Maybe three or five, but not one... hmm...

"Yes! Fine work. You're a quick study. I will now give you this tiger scroll!" announced Swiftblade, hiding his surprise really well. He handed Link the scroll, who put it in the separate dimension in his bag.

Putting Ezlo on on the way out, Link went right back to I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim and showed him the spin attack, accidentally forgetting to take Ezlo off again and making Ezlo dizzy. I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim let Link go past him and into Trilby Highlands. Link sprinted as fast as he could along the pathway, at last reaching the base of Mount Crenel.

"Right!" nagged Ezlo, "Now don't you forget what Grandpa Smith said! You need to use the plants! GOT THAT?!"

Link wasn't feeling too good. He'd pushed himself much farther than he usually did, and that combined with his severe sleepiness and Ezlo's loudness caused him to simply collapse onto the ground, sending Ezlo tumbling along the rocks.

 _(N-Not again!)_ thought Link as he felt the nightmare coming on...

"WAKE UP, BOY!" Yelled one severely grumpy and short-tempered hat called Ezlo in Link's ear. Link jumped in surprise- right into a nearby pool of water which was slightly cut off from Hyrule's river (which Link likes to call River Hurry-Up, because it always seems to be hurrying along for something), splashing a bit before climbing out, he cold water successfully waking him up fully, which made Link feel much better.

"Don't you do that again!" scolded Ezlo.

"Th-Thanks." said Link, sincerely, before filling the bottle with water and emptying it on a nearby plant, sending a small wave of water crashing among the tiny rocks that the ground was made of. The plant grew very, very fast, thick and strong, up the mountain, like a natural net. Link carefuly climbed it, soon reaching a climbable-looking wall. However, upon trying to climb it, Link discovered that the stones were far too loose, so they would never hold Link's weight.

Ezlo yelled, "WHAT are you doing?! You don't have the right equipment to climb THAT, Boy!"

Link knew he was right, and passed by the wall. All along the path marked on the map, there were sticky, spiky webs, leafless yet alive trees, and huge, four-legged monsters (Link could tell because all monsters felt like black holes of emotionlessness), which had one eye and was white with a red markings on it. When the monsters tried to jump on Link, he saw the mouths full of pointy teeth on their undersides. Link crouched onto the ground and pointed his sword straight up when they all leapt into the air, and each one was impaled by the sword and went poof one by one, all in a split second. Ezlo wondered where Link got all those good ideas from. That boy had very good common sense...

After dealing with the monsters, Link put away his sword and took out a packet of pansilla seeds and a packet of flower fertiliser. On impulse, Link planted them wherever there was too much space by digging small holes and putting seeds and fertiliser in them. Ezlo wasn't sure what Link was up to, and neither was Link.

Past the pathway, the marked trail led into a blocked cave. There were natural whirlwinds swirling above their heads. "I say DON'T use those bombs-" began Ezlo, only for Link to blow up the cave entrance anyway. All along, curiously, Link felt Ezlo's worry as well as the usual frustration. Meanwhile, Ezlo was worrying about what Vaati might be up to next. Was he the sort to hurt someone? He'd already turned the princess into stone. What _else_ might he do? Vaati wasn't evil. Right?

Link used a giant red, stretchy mushroom to sail over a pit in the cave. Stragely enough, there were stairs on the other side. Up on the next floor, they came across some ball-like bird-monsters with tough iron masks. "Just pull off their masks and they're no trouble whatsoever!" advised Ezlo. Link followed his advice and beat them all easily, before going though the cave and finding a way out.

Outside, Link found that he was now level with the whirlwinds. Ezlo looked at them and thought, _(If I can inflate, and can be used as a parachute, perhaps I can help Link fly across here!)_ It was quite possible.

Link thought, _(M-maybe I should have p-packed the p-pogo stick.)_ as he planted more flowers around the area.

"Hmn? Hmmmmnnnn... Ah, of course! How silly of me!" Burst out Ezlo, "Hey, my boy! Jump onto that whirlwind over there for me! Heh heh heh... I wonder, is this a great idea or a terrible one?"

Link felt his certainty. They would be perfectly safe. The funny hat was just being dramatic. Link leapt into the whirlwind, grabbing Ezlo's rim and gripping it tightly. The wind inflated Ezlo and its current safely and gently pushed Ezlo and Link to the other side of the higher ground of Mt. Crenel's... base.

"It worked!" announced Ezlo, "Well done, my boy! Now, let's get up Mount Crenel!"

Smiling, Link continued up the mountain, planting pansilla seeds all along the way. Mount Crenel needed more plants. Soon, he reached wider, more level part of the mountain. He was surprised to see some teeny-weeny-flying-bug-monsters, which were a little larger than him at picori-size, now barely needed a poke with the tip of the sword to make them go poof.

"You go plant those seeds, boy!" encouraged Ezlo, meaning the Mountain Vine seeds, "We're barely up yet!" Link spotted a portal covered in those sticky, spiky white webs. He went over to it, passing a tiny passageway, and sucked up all the webs. It looked like a large rock with a spiky hole in the middle, but Link sensed its magical energy.

 _(How st-strange.)_ he thought. Ezlo shrunk them down, and Link winced a little when they bounced down some lime-citrine coloured crystal which was very hard. The mushrooms had been softer...

Ezlo recognised it as quetzallite, a crystalline material which repelled magic and could also be used to focus and control magic, even if one could not do magic at all, one of the five magical ores. How interesting! "So, this perfectly normal-looking stone was another magic am-portal to The Minish World! There may be other rock-portals. Keep your eyes peeled, Boy," Observed Ezlo, "and HURRY UP!"

Link was a bit uncomfortable. Ezlo was yelling... AGAIN! He was actually imagining stuffing Ezlo into his magic bag... "I feel b-bad." stated Link. Since when did he feel like stuffing someone into a magic bag? Not even the biggest jerk at school could make him think that!

"How come?" asked Ezlo, relived that Link was actually talking again.

"I feel l-like stuffing y-you into my bag. Y-you're shout-y." Link replied.

Ezlo could find no answer to that. He _was_ shout-y. And yell-y. And nag-y. "I don't blame you for that, Boy..." sighed Ezlo, "WAIT! Did I say that out loud?!"

Link felt better. He looked around the outside of the rock. The regular-sized rocks were as big as hills! The trees were mountains in themselves! It took a surprisingly long time to reach the passageway.

The passageway was like a straight path. At the end of this path was a humongous green bean. "You'll never be able to carry that!" commentated Ezlo, "We'll have to-" Link promptly picked up the bean. Ezlo, under the bean, couldn't exactly SEE or SAY anything. Link carried the bean out of the passageway, past the trees and huge mazes of webs, to a (conveniently placed) hole next to a wall, filling what seemed like a bottomless pit at picori-size, while Ezlo crossly complained about his beak getting squashed. Link realised he was going to have to go all the way back to the bottom of the mountain to refill his bottle. He grew to regular size, then jumped down a couple of ledges, not wanting to think about the way back UP...

Two hours later, Link was back at the plant. However, when Link poured the water on it, it didn't grow. Ezlo observed this closely. Then he got an idea. "Hmm... It seems there are two types of beans on Mt. Crenel- blue and green. If the colour is different, I suppose how you treat each one is different too. Well? Do you have any ideas, Boy?"

Link tried using a bit of the water in his watering can, the water being slightly edited for plants. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. How exactly were they going to find 'the right treatment'? Link spotted a little hole under some webs. Maybe a picori lived there! Ezlo was grumpily complaining about how it was going to take ages to figure it out and how he didn't have that kind of time and how Vaati was in SO MUCH TROUBLE when he got said sorcerer back home and BLAH BLAH BLAH- wait, what was that about Vaati? Well, as Grandpa Smith was always saying,

 _"There's no point in hiding and complaining, if you want things done SOMEBODY has to do it so it might as well be yourself!"_

...Link thought that was good advice. One could just figure out what to and do it! It was all very simple to him. Link was also getting used to Ezlo's complaining. It was quite the change from Zelda, who was always overly-optimistic and never complained about anything! He got rid of the spiky webs using the gust jar, before getting Ezlo to shrink them down and going into the hole. He landed in a cosy-looking picori house, with a bed, a fire-box (a stove/oven/microwave), a lot of shelves, a lamp, a table and chairs, and a rug. There was a picori just putting a tray above the fire in the fire-box. She turned around and spotted them.

"Hi visitor!" squeaked the minish excitedly, "I'm Mari! Who are you? And the hat? Is it magic? Can you do magic?!"

"I'm NOT an 'it', my name is Ezlo and the boy is called Link. A sorcerer turned my into this!" replied Ezlo, "Can you tell us about Crenel Beans?"

"Well, water is life for Crenel Beans! The blue beans grow when you pour water on them... But the green beans like Mt. Crenel Mineral Water. Mt. Crenel Mineral Water can only be found in a spring here on Mt. Crenel. Well, really, the spring is closer to the base of Mt. Crenel. Would you two like some dew-moss cookies? I've just been baking some- and I always bake extra in case I get visitors!" offered Mari.

"Yes, please." politely replied Ezlo, "Thank you very much."

Mari took out a tall stool for Ezlo, and Link gladly sat down on one of the chairs in front of the small table. He then took his blue rose out of the magic bag and put it on the table, then took out the watering can and watered the rare plant. Link could feel its simple happiness. A plant was a plant, but they still had basic emotions. Meanwhile, Link also felt Ezlo's curiosity.

"Where did you get that plant, Link? Blue roses are very rare, you know." asked Ezlo.

"G-granddad gave it t-to mom who gave i-it to me." Explained Link, finding no other way to explain.

"You mean... Smith?" asked Ezlo. Link shook his head. No, he meant GrandDAD, not GrandPA. Just then, a loud DING-A-LING-A-LING pinged through the small house.

"The cookies are ready!" announced Mari, happily jingling an old, little bell and holding a plate of cookies. Link split them in thirds, three for Ezlo, three for Mari and three for himself. Ezlo gobbled his up with great relief, finally, good old minish cuisine! Mari ate hers at a reasonable pace, pausing to politely giggle at Ezlo's antics from time to time. Link hesitantly took a small bite of one... then he suddenly felt a bit queasy, and his ears turned pastel-sky-blue. Yes, PASTEL-SKY-BLUE of all things.

"I feel si-sick." stated Link, very quietly.

"What?!" cried Ezlo, "He's allergic?!" _(Of all the things to be allergic to...)_ "I didn't know it was possible for ears to go blue."

"Oh no!" cried Mari, panicking, "I'l go make some herbal tea to make him feel better!"

"Well, please do HURRY UP... I think he might throw up." stated Ezlo.

"EeeeeeK! I'm sorry!" wailed Mari, frantically cooking up the herbal tea. Once it was done, Link eagerly gulped it down along with a tea-spoon of medicine from the green bottle. Grandpa Smith always said to have a bit if his face went a funny colour. His ears went normal again.

 _(Blue ears count as 'face going a funny colour'.)_ Link thought, putting away the medicine and cleaning the spoon as best as he could.

"What's that?!" asked Ezlo, but Link didn't answer, "Looks like he's feeling better anyway. Okay, so what was IN those cookies?! I need to establish WHAT he's allergic to, if you please."

Mari, still upset, handed Ezlo her cookie recipe. Ezlo went though each of the ingredients, using a complex magic that helped figure out allergies. The process involved linking Link with the temporary spell and getting him to touch each ingredient and see which colour his finger went, at no risk to him unless Ezlo messed up the spell. Since Ezlo had been conserving a lot of energy recently, he was just about able to pull it off. As it turned out, Link was allergic to Pini Mushroom Spores- a key ingredient in all minish pasties and baked goods.

"Well, thank you for your help," said Ezlo, "and I'll be sure to goodness that Link won't be eating any more cookies or any minish baked goods..."

With THAT, Ezlo leapt back onto Link's head and the two of them left Mari's house. Link went back down the mountain again, and on the way down Ezlo noticed a crumbling wall that neither of them had spotted earlier. "HEY! BOY!" yelled Ezlo, "Blast this wall with those bombs, won't you?" Surprised, Link did blow up the wall, revealing a cave behind it.

Inside the cave were some red gooey-blobby monsters. Link whacked them with his sword, before climbing up a nearby ladder. _(Who put it there?)_ thought Link. He next blew up some rubble blocking the path on the outside ledge, before finding another rock portal, Ezlo shrinking them down again. At picori/minish size, Link followed a path to Mount Crenel's one and only spring, which was filled with piping hot citrine-lime-green water.

"Well done, Boy!" congratulated Ezlo, "Now collect that Mount Crenel Spring Water! And BE CAREFUL! It's piping hot!"

Link was careful, and bottled the water before climbing back UP the mountain (this time it takes an hour, not two) and heading back to the plant AGAIN. This time, the plant actually _grew_ , much to Ezlo and Link's relief. Link climbed up it, now officially... a THIRD up Mt. Crenel. That's also when Link decided to stop for lunch.

Ezlo jumped off Link's head and watched as Link pulled out a _PICNIC RUG,_ two small bottles of water, as well as some sandwiches. Just WHAT _ELSE_ did Link pack in that bag...? Well, that didn't matter right now. At least they would have somewhere slightly more comfortable to sit... While Ezlo chomped away at his cheese sandwich, he thought about the possibility of teaching Link some magic, also about Vaati and what went wrong between them to cause Vaati to take the hat- maybe everybody had been right and it was... just in Vaati's nature? Not Ezlo's fault? Who was he kidding, of COURSE it was his fault! But what had he done wrong...? ... Mmmm... That sandwich was tasty. "Mmmm... Delicious!" commentated Ezlo, "Your grandpa makes excellent sandwiches!" After that, Ezlo gulped down the water.

Meanwhile, Link was eating his sandwich quite a bit slower. He felt Ezlo's consideration, ideas, guilt... and sandwich opinion. Link thought about Zelda. Was she okay? Hungry? Bored? Asleep? Thinking about Zelda got him thinking about Vaati. Vaati... Nightshade. How did Ezlo know Vaati? How did Vaati know Ezlo? How confusing... Link checked the map and nodded to Ezlo's comment about Grandpa Smith's sandwiches- they were delicious!

Ten minutes later, they'd finished lunch and it didn't take very long for Link to put away the picnic rug. They continued up Mount Crenel, Link occasionally planting seeds, but ended up at another wall Link couldn't climb. They backtracked and went the other way this time, crossing a bridge and blasting a loose wall at the end of it.

Inside the newly-revealed cave, there were a bunch of pots, two red blob-monsters, and a chest. Link made the monsters go 'poof' before opening the chest. Inside was a blue kinstone, a strong, innocent feeling coming from it. Link packed it away in his kistone bag. On the next floor, there were some metal-blob monsters which could harden themselves to protect from Link's sword.

"How are you going to beat those? Using a football?" asked Ezlo, trying to be funny, inwardly chuckling for a second at the thought of beating a monster with a football.

Link smiled- and promptly took a football out of his bag. He then kicked it at the monsters. Believe it or not, the monsters got spun around and were too dizzy to put their spiky shields back up again when Link whacked them with his sword. Ezlo was completely speechless. "Good i-idea." Link said, giggling at his friend the noisy hat's crazy but logical ideas as he put the football away again. Ezlo was even more speechless after that comment.

 _(That boy seems more connected with dreams than reality... Could it be that- WAIT, that's Crazy Theorist talking.)_ thought Ezlo.

A bit of blowing up stuff and pushing things around later, Link left the cave's exit. A bit further along here were more whirlwinds and air currents. Link and Ezlo leaned this way and that, subconsciously working as a team to cross over to the next area along Smith's path. Climbing up a bit higher, Link and Ezlo were now two-thirds of the way up to Mount Crenel, with no sign of the picori/minish so far. Link continued clearing the monsters out and planting flowers along the way up, soon reaching another cave.

Inside this cave was a business scrub. Link used his shield to defend himself from it, and it was hit by it's own nut, right in the face.

"Okay, ya got me! Let me make it up to ya!" insisted the small scrub, "This grip ring is just perfect for a mountaineer like yourself! it is magic a item which stops loose rocks from falling, and greatly improves your own grip on the rocks! Climb in style for only forty rupees! What a bargain!"

The scrub showed them the grip ring, and Ezlo jumped of Link's head and carefully inspected them. "Wow..." commentated Ezlo, "Not only is this real, but it has excellent quality! Where in The Human World did you find this?"

"A great business scrub never reveals its secrets." It replied, smirking secretively.

Link paid the scrub the rupees and put the grip ring on his left wrist. It shrank slightly to fit him perfectly, and Link could just feel the magical energy tingling in and out of the magical band.

Outside, it worked just as well as the scrub said it would. Link climbed down a rocky wall, which he would not have been able to do before without badly injuring himself, before sailing across another gap in the path using a stretchy red mushroom, but not before scattering a couple of pansilla seeds along the way. Past that, there was an even bigger gap along with some whirlwinds that Link and Ezlo used to cross the gap. Now in a large, rocky wall-section of Mount Crenel, Link climbed carefully up it, avoiding the humongous boulders which came crashing down the mountain. Looking up, Link spotted a bunch of rampaging monsters at the top of Mount Crenel, which were causing all those boulders to fall down Mt. Crenel.

Suddenly, a particularly large boulder crashed down, nearly squashing Link- luckily, he scuttled out of the way just in time, but so jerkily that Ezlo, who was barely hanging on to Link's head, fell right off. "HEEEEELLLLLP MEEEEEEEEEE!" Screamed Ezlo on the way down- for half a millisecond. The rest was screamed back on Link's head. "Wha... What just happened?" asked Ezlo, carefully bending down to see Link's face- and Ezlo saw that said ten-year-old-boy was smiling somewhat secretively, and acting as if nothing had just happened. Link just kept on climbing, as Ezlo noticed that Link's entire being was simply buzzing with magical energy, sourced from something far greater than magic potential, ability or even power...

It suddenly occurred to Link that if Zelda was a stone statue now, how would she _eat_? Or _drink_?! She must be _STARVING_ as well as bored to death! Panicking, Link pushed himself far beyond his normal standards and rushed up the mountain, leapt over the side of the wall to the top of Mount Crenel, swinging his sword in a tight, tough sphere around him, sending all the monsters at the top of the mountain flying away and 'poof'ing into white smoke and yellow sparks. This also had the side effect of making Ezlo's beak hang open in shock for the next five minutes while Link stopped and sat down, breathing heavily. Once Ezlo recovered from the shock, Link sneezed loudly and took a blue bottle and the spoon out of his bag, giving himself a teaspoon of his medicine. Grandpa Smith always gave him a little bit whenever he sneezed like that. Two seconds later, Link felt much better, wondering what that thing he'd just done was.

Maybe he should ask Guardian Spirit when Ezlo wasn't looking. People always panicked whenever he spoke through his heart and talked with Guardian Spirit, who liked to meet him in that odd, pearly, rainbow-white place. The first time he'd done it his Mom and Dad had both passed out with worry, so he'd had to talk far too much to calm them down... Link missed them. He looked at the view of Hyrule from the sunny side of Mount Crenel's Peak, his legs hanging over the edge and loosely swinging around. Zelda had said that if Link looked past the sun, he would see them helping him from a world far from this one. He had to save her... since he couldn't ever have saved them. He would save Vaati and Ezlo, too. They all needed help, and Link was glad to do the helping.

Once Ezlo recovered from the shock, he just fell of Link's head as Link had a teaspoon of whatever was in that blue bottle. Ezlo looked over at Link sitting on the edge, legs handing over the side, looking just past the sun. What did he see there..? What was that awesome thing with the sword he'd just done? Either way, it seemed that he'd have to recover. Thinking about Link got him thinking about allergies which got him thinking about jabber nuts which got him thinking about Vaati.

 _"...Vaaaaaaah... ...teeeeee..."_

 _"Is that your NAME, Boy?"_

 _"...Name... That's what it is. It's... my name. I think I forgot a lot. But I know... I never knew you..."_

... That was that day when Vaati didn't remember anything. That day when they'd first met way back when when Vaati was three (minish learn things like walking and talking a lot faster than humans). He never had managed to track down his (possibly long gone) family, but in the end he hadn't needed to. When Ezlo looked over at Link again, he thought he saw little ten-year-old Vaati sitting there next to him, legs swinging over the side of the mountain, staring past the sun... then he was gone, fading with the wind, as if he'd never been there at all.

Link got up and turned around to face Ezlo, more determined than ever to save his best-friend-that-stuck-by-him-during-the-toughest-times-of-his-life. So before Ezlo figured out what was happening, Link jammed him right on his head again and set off towards a larger-than-average red mushroom with small pansilla seeds falling out of a teensy hole in his bag, looking towards the rainy side of Mount Crenel's Peak. Between the two sides of the peak, there was a gigantic, humongous, chasm- and the only way across was by using the red mushroom. Ezlo noticed.

"You're not planning on trying to cross that GIANT CHASM are you?! It's a long way down... NO WAY!" he yelled.

Link just grabbed the mushroom and pulled it back as far as it would go, holding on tightly to Ezlo with one hand and gripping the mushroom with the other- and then he was sailing right across the top of Mount Crenel. The experience was one Link would never, ever forget in all of the rest of his life, that feeling of flying through the air, sailing higher than was thought to be possible, something truly thrilling, something that took Link's breath away. He would never forget the landing either.

 **SMASH!**

Ezlo opened his eyes a little. HE had been terrified and had kept his eyes closed the whole time. He checked himself over. What a relief, he was okay. Not dead, Not squashed, and most definitely NOT stuck hanging on a jagged rock at the top of Mount Crenel. Ezlo looked down- and saw that Link was dizzily trying to get up _,_ and also that they were in their own little crater, with cracks and bits of rock everywhere. _(What?! Did we cause that much of a big impact? If we did, HOW in my entire storage of great jumping jellyfish is that boy STILL ALIVE?!)_ thought Ezlo in complete and utter shock.

As it turned out, the mountain peak was pretty badly damaged but Link himself was perfectly fine, albeit extremely dizzy and a bit wiped out.

"What were you THINKING?!" scolded Ezlo at the top of his voice.

 **BOOM!** Went the sky as what felt like a giant's bucket of water came crashing down directly onto Ezlo and slightly-less-directly on Link. This had the effect of making them throughly soaked in a matter of seconds. It also had the added effect of making Ezlo stop shouting. Link recovered and stood up. Thanks to all the rubble caused by the monsters being freed and a little by Link's landing, the only way forward was to shrink into minish size. Luckily, there was a rock-portal/magic amplifier on their side of the rubble. Link climbed onto it.

"No." said Ezlo, very, very, seriously. "Link, at minish size one DROP of this heavy rain can kill you instantly! I WON'T shrink us down in this weather!"

Link understood. He could feel just how serious Ezlo was at this point. Link also knew that the rain would never stop up here for the next three years. That was just how the rainy side of Mount Crenel's Peak was, according to all those books Link has read, Mira's exciting tales, and the day Grandpa Smith went on and on about it. So, Link reached out to the magic of the portal, and made all the glyphs appear.

"WHAT are you DOING?! You don't know HOW TO WORK that MAGIC AMPLIFIER!" yelled Ezlo over the rain and the sky. Ahh! So _that's_ what they really were! Now these things made sense! Ezlo could only watch as Link moved the glyphs in exactly the same way he'd seen Ezlo do it, moving everything in a particular pattern. Ezlo, realising that while Link could imitate most of it, he wouldn't be able to make the grip ring or whatever else was in that dimensional hole to shrink because he'd never seen Ezlo account for these things, gave up trying to get Link to stop and instead helped him sort out the glyphs in the rune-work involved with working the magic amplifier. Soon, they were both minish-sized, and Link was running at top speed through the heavy rain.

The drops were each as big as that giant boulder that nearly squashed him earlier... _Like the nightmare... (NO! Zelda might d-die if I get scared now!)_ Link, heart pumping, reminded himself over and over, wading through the minish-sized path through the rocks and rubble.

"Those raindrops are like boulders of water to us, kid! Watch out! If they hit us, it'll sting something fierce!" warned Ezlo.

It did. Each huge splash was like a giant slap to the face! He couldn't get to the magic amplifier on the other side fast enough. It was a true relief to be regular-sized again... Link had to push some loose bits of rubble out of the way in order to reach a ladder leading down into the inside of the mountain.

Luckily, the cave wasn't very affected by the rain. Now very wet, very cold, and very, very, sloshy, Ezlo was having a hard time holding himself up! Link was soaked to the bone, and both were shivering a lot. Even though it too had a bit of rubble, Link was able to push those rocks out of the way. Thankfully, the cave led directly back to the sunny side of Mount Crenel.

"What a relief!" announced Ezlo, "The rain's all gone!" The sun was setting, and it was getting late. Link went inside yet another cave entrance, wondering where Melari could be and if they'd _passed_ him already...

Inside the cave, Link saw a mushroom in front of a chasm. However, he could also see that if he used it, he'd smash into some rocks on the other side. Luckily, next to said rocks, there was a stretchy mushroom which Link could pull using the gust jar. He did so, flying across to the other side of the cave in the process. He wasn't feeling too good... something inside felt all... rumbly and grumbly. shiver-y and vibrate-ily. Not to mention icky. Ezlo, getting worn out, just curled around Link's head and fell fast asleep, still shivering a bit. Link went down some stairs.

On the next floor down, Link spotted a switch on the other side of another chasm in the cave. He threw a bomb at it, which exploded, switching the switch on and making a bridge slide out from just under the ground, still not feeling very well. Link continued through the cave, pushing all those rocks out of the way as fast as he could. He then left through the cave's exit, past all those rocks.

At long last, they finally reached what looked like a minish mine, which had a rock magic amplifier nearby. Link used it to shrink, which woke Ezlo up, and went along a minish pathway, which led into the minish mine. It was now very late, and cold outside, making Link feel worse. He didn't tell Ezlo. Ezlo didn't notice. Link was starting to get a headache. Right at the bottom of the minish mine, there was a large minish holding a hammer, wearing a blue and red outfit, complete with a hat. There was a long table and two smaller minish behind him, also holding hammers and wearing blue and red outfits.

"Green clothes? And an odd hat?! Sir! Might you be young Link?" he asked, "I am Melari, master smith. I hear you want me to reforge the sacred sword and help break a curse. I'll be needing the old sword, which held the power of the elements, first. Show me that Broken Picori Blade! I love all this adventure, what with the rescuing of princesses and such. I'd be happy to restore this thing into a brand-new sacred blade for you!"

Link took out the two broken parts of the blade- which strangely enough, turned too big for a minish but too small for a human as he took them out.

"It'll take me a while to rework your sword. Why don't you change into something dry and stay for supper? It's getting late, after all. Alright! Let's get started!"

"Thank you very much." said Ezlo, "By the way, Link's allergic to pini mushroom spores... unfortunately. My name is Ezlo, and by the way, I was turned into a hat by a sorcerer!"

Link wearily nodded as Melari began work on the sword. They were shown to a guest room, which had a lit fireplace, some hooks above the fireplace, and a comfy-looking bed. Link left Ezlo outside and changed into his spare tunic, leaving the wet one at the fireplace. After that, the two of them had supper, which was some kind of warm stew. It made Link feel slightly better. He wanted to go get the element at once, but Ezlo was having none of that this time.

"NO. I won't allow that! You NEED sleep!" he yelled, making Link's headache worse. Melari agreed, and Link went to bed, falling asleep instantly after leaving Ezlo in front of the fireplace. Too sleepy to argue, he fell asleep too, blissfully ignorant.


	8. Chapter 8: Memories

**Remember what I mentioned about exceptions? Well, this is one of them. Something that's all three of their point of views. Hopefully this chapter will put the timing of the chapters back in proportion... So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _We all got to see a few parts of Link's ever-varying nightmare. Link talked in his sleep in someone else's voice,_ _making Ezlo_ _officially w_ _eirded out. After breakfast, Link packed many useful and a few non-useful things in his bag, then Smith gave them both a bit of good advice about how to climb Mount Crenel. They got held up a bit in Hyrule Town, when an emerald-citrine spark floated into the air. As the two of them climbed up the mountain,_ _Link seemed even_ _more confusing to Ezlo, since the simplistic boy seemed to hold such inexplainable magic. Right at the sunny side of Mt. Crenel's peak, Link had to take a rest, so he thought about Zelda, Ezlo and Vaati. He thought all of them needed help, and that he would be glad to do the helping. Soon after, Link and Ezlo were caught in a massive cloud of rain on the way to Melari's Mines, and thanks to that, Link wasn't feeling too well..._

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Lost Memories of Friends and Journeys**

Vaati curled up tightly in fear while he was asleep...

 _Fighting... everybody was fighting each other! All because there wasn't enough resources for everyone... again. The sight made two-year-old Vaati absolutely terrified. All this fighting... and on top of that, they might wake up the cat! Next to him, looking at the fighting with him, was that familiar minish who'd taught him so much about the world, present Vaati remembered now._

 _"...Weren't we all supposed to be allies?" asked two-year-old Vaati to the familiar purple minish with the eyes like his, and the black cross birthmarks on his cheeks._

 _"Yes... but in the end, all that matters to everyone is living to see another night." explained the familiar minish, looking down at Vaati sadly, yet warmly, "We're lucky, Vaati. We're lucky to have each other. Many of them have been alone since the beginning."_

 _Vaati began to feel tears flowing from his, and his two-year-old self eyes, and hugged the minish, his brother, present him remembered now, tightly._

 _"Let's go get some food at least." said his brother, "Or we might end up going down with each other too."_

 _Two-year-old Vaati looked into his eyes._

 _"That sounds much better than one of us leaving the other behind..."_

In his sleep, present Vaati whispered, "...though maybe it would be better never to have had family at all then to be torn away from the only one you can trust...", finishing the sentence that he couldn't all those years ago, his eye flickering open. That dream... after all this time, the past he was so afraid of was... returning to him? The more he discovered, the more he wanted to know, somehow. The more he knew, the less scary they seemed to be. Also, to get closer to the light force, he'd have to face Lake Hylia and fish out Rhinestone. Vaati got up and checked his map again. Unfortunately, Rhinestone was STILL at the lake. Probably swimming. He didn't have time to wait now. News was spreading and if Rhinestone found out about him, the game would well and truly be up.

So Vaati teleported right there, not bothering to check if all the gorons were awake. All of this would NOT be for nothing. Vaati was back at the water's edge, looking at his refection in the water so like glass. Why was it that he was so drawn to water, yet so afraid of it? Curious yet scared? He placed his left forefinger lightly on to the surface of the water, touching it yet not. A gentle ripple flowed out from his light touch...

 _Splashing. Giant drops, double the size of boulders._

The ripple flowed outwards, three more coming from where Vaati was touching the surface.

 _Water, a river, washing away a home he would never know._

A summer petal flew through the sky, and landed on the lake's surface, bending the earlier ripples and contradicting them.

 _Struggling._ _Sinking._ _Splashing. Screaming._

No. Know. No. Why was it that Vaati was curious now? Curious yet afraid. Far more afraid than curious. The element of wind swept a cloud of petals from the summer flowers, swirling in the sky, responding to Vaati's emotions.

"To know... Do I really want to know?" asked Vaati without realising he was speaking out loud. Right at that rather important moment, a giant announcement of

"CANNON BALL!" echoed across Lake Hylia, and a massive **SPLASH** sent a huge wave of water crashing over Vaati, completely soaking him- and effectively making him completely and utterly freak out worse than Zelda would be at a spider's tea party (and she has the worst case of arachnophobia in all of Hyrule). No, wait, that's an understatement...

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"** screamed Vaati, sending animals of all sorts running for the hills, birds from everywhere in the area to fly away to the farthest corners of Hyrule, and even the monsters to trip over trying to run away. The wind formed a huge cyclone in the air, affecting nothing but the weather patterns (in what would one day be the Gerudo Desert for that exact reason). After all, Vaati was only _just beginning_ to feel the water... getting soaked by it so suddenly sent him right back to square one when it came to fearing deep water...

Vaati stopped screaming, taking deep breaths and shivering, the wind calming down with him. In front of him, paddling in the water, was a tinged-pastel-pink goron wearing bright-pastel-pink ribbons, which were tied around her arms, complete with large bows.

"Are you okay?" she asked, "You're looking a bit purple, goro."

"..." Vaati just stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds. Of all the reasons why he might not be okay... "I've always been purple. Do you happen to be called Rhinestone?"

"Yeah, goro!" confirmed Rhinestone, "Do Granite and some friends need help breaking a wall?"

"Yes. Will you come and help them out?" asked Vaati, somewhat hopefully.

"...Mmmm..." Rhinestone considered this for a bit, then announced, "Yes- after we have a swimming race, goro! No race, no help. I need to test my skills!"

Vaati went even paler than usual. "A sw-sw-sw-" he stuttered. _(A SWIMMING RACE?!)_ he shrieked in his mind.

 _("It's okay! Face that fear!")_ encouraged his timid inner voice. This time, a third voice joined in, one that wasn't the malevolent one but more... calculative.

 _(I agree. After all, it DOES seem that the light force might be at the end of all this trouble. Besides, for all you know, it's at the bottom of this very lake!)_ pointed out this new, logical calculative voice. Vaati liked the way it seemed to balance between the other two.

 _(Don't listen to them!)_ yelled the malevolent voice, but it was weaker this time- because Vaati wasn't listening to it.

"Ahh, scared of water, goro? No worries- between you and me, I was too!" explained Rhinestone, "You know what? I'll teach you how to swim, goro!"

"Ummmm..." said Vaati, still extremely pale and extremely shaken.

"AND, since I'm helping you, you get the easy way, goro!" Cheered Rhinestone.

"...Easy way? What easy way?" asked Vaati.

 **SPLASH!**

Well... remember that scream from before? That was _NOTHING_ compared to-

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"** screamed Vaati, his voice literally reaching everywhere in Hyrule! All over Hyrule, soldiers stopped their fruitless search for Vaati, shopkeepers stopped selling things, the gorons stopped smashing that tough wall, Ezlo stopped talking, Link stopped being ill, the mountain minish stopped work, Limestone stopped setting up his stall, regular people, animals, birds, bugs, amphibians, reptiles, spiders and monsters all screeched to a halt in whatever they were doing, and one particular goron even stopped sinking into the swamp! In that same three minutes, a huge storm whipped around Lake Hylia, dropping various things around Hyrule, completely flooding a giant iceberg as well as someone's house, ultimately causing more damage than all the monsters in Hyrule could do in a week.

In case you're wondering, Rhinestone just stuck her fingers into her ears (yes, gorons have ears, they're just not obvious) and treaded water, completely unaffected by Vaati's scream which, in fact, is pretty awesome in itself. Vaati, now more terrified than Zelda would be in a hole full of tarantulas (wait- that's a _massive_ understatement), climbed out of the water and barely managed to stop himself from teleporting back to Goron's Cave. Then it hit him!

"I'm okay!" stated Vaati.

"See? Perfectly safe!" reassured Rhinestone, "But next time you might want to take your shoes off, goro, maybe that cloak, too."

Vaati did, and carefully paddled into the water. He didn't feel very safe. But he could feel it... that sense of overwhelming curiosity. Know. No. No to the fear. Know to the memory. He wanted to know. He had to know what had happened.

 _Struggling. Sinking. Splashing. Screaming._

Vaati carefully paddled in the shallow part of Lake Hylia...

 _"Help! HELP! Vale? VALE?!"_

...then carefully let go of the side, using both his hands and legs to stay afloat...

 _Tears. Vale had always been scared for him. Yet in the end..._

...The ripples of water from Rhinestone and Vaati connected, and the wind swirled gently, picking up tiny droplets of water...

 _...it was Vale who would leave him behind in the cruel world of the living..._

...Vaati began to swim, paddling around the water. Splashing. Swimming. Floating...

 _...Little three-year-old Vaati was washed farther down the valley, where an old minish was collecting herbs at the flood plains..._

...in control. Trusting. A small smile twitched on Vaati's face. At that moment of time, he was...

 _...A stick was thrust into the water, and Vaati held on to it, staring for an infinite moment at the minish who'd helped him before passing out, now..._

...Safe.

 _...Safe._

Yet, in everything that had just happened, Vaati's entire plan and reasoning was thrown onto its head. Why was he safe? What did he just see? Vale... Vale was his brother's name. Vale Nightshade. Vaati steeled himself and determinedly kept on swimming, Rhinestone cheering him on from the background.

* * *

"Don't abandon me..." cried Link, with Vale's voice, in his sleep, "Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"

Then his eyes snapped open to a horrible throbbing headache. His nose was all runny and he felt really dizzy...

"A-A-A-choo!" sneezed Link, "A-CHOO!"

"EW!" screeched Ezlo, leaping up from his place in front of the fireplace, "Don't SNEEZE like that, Boy!"

...now Link's headache was worse and his ears were ringing. He felt dizzy- and threw up a little.

"EW! YUCKY! WHAT'S _WRONG_ , BOY?!" yelled Ezlo, even louder. Ezlo's very loud yelling woke up Melari and all seven of his apprentices. They all came running into to the room to see Link looking really unwell in bed, and Ezlo yelling his beak off in the middle of the floor.

"He's got a really horrible cold... It must have been because of Mount Crenel's rain showers..." sighed Melari.

"He seemed fine yesterday." stated Ezlo, a little confused.

The apprentice who'd cooked the stew last night walked a bit closer to Link. "Okay, so what's wrong? 'eadache? Ill? Dizzy? Ears ringing?"

"A-all of them..." whispered Link, "B-but Zelda... St-starve... Stone c-can't eat..."

"You will be staying right here." said Melari, firmly, "Kids like you shouldn't even go into the Cave of Fire in the first place, let alone try to find the element with a horrid cold!"

"I agree!" added Ezlo, "Beside's, Zelda is in a state of Paaci [Pah-kee]'s Syndrome. She's in a half-asleep state in which she has no need to eat, sleep, or drink though she's fully aware of what's happening around her."

Link was confused. Why did Ezlo make things so confusing?

"In other words, Zelda will be okay." simplified Melari. Link calmed down. "Felo, could you take care of Link? Everyone else can get back to digging or fixing today! No worries, everyone will get a turn helping to fix the sacred sword..."

Melari and six of his apprentices left the room, leaving Felo (the one who'd cooked), Link and Ezlo in the guest room. Felo quickly replaced Link's blanket, talking about whatever came to mind, "Did you know, I'm the only one 'ere who can cook! It's quite awkward at times..."

"Really?" asked Ezlo, "I can teach the others to cook while I'm here, I mean, I might as well do _SOMETHING_ useful while this boy's ill!"

 _"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

What in the world was that? It sounded like... Vaati? Screaming? Link suddenly stopped being ill, Ezlo stopped talking, everyone in Hyrule stopped everything for three minutes. Link could feel the pure fear in that far away scream, Vaati's fear. Link wondered about the purple sorcerer. Now that he really thought about it, the little brother in the Nightmare had the exact same emotions too, those same marks under the eyes. Could Vaati have been minish once? Ezlo seemed closer to him than one would expect... Link understood that fear, somehow, though who knows _how..._

Ezlo recognised that scream, though he hadn't heard it since he first met Vaati. That scream... Ezlo half-thought he was imaging hearing something so desperate again after all those years. It did feel as if it were an echo, after all. Really, though, it sounded real, like it was coming from... what, Lake Hylia or something! Ha ha ha, that HAD to be Crazy Theorist talking...

Then Ezlo said, "That scream... why would he be that afraid?"

"So that _wasn't_ my imagination?" clarified Felo. Link shook his head. "Well, any'oo, I think you teaching everyone else 'ow to cook would be a great idea!"

With that, Ezlo hopped out of the room, and Felo left after him. Link watched them go, feeling Ezlo's guilt. Then he took out the blue bottle, the red bottle and the teaspoon from his bag, giving himself a teaspoon of each medicine before putting them away. He wasn't feeling much better, but at least the ringing in his ears had stopped and he wasn't dizzy anymore. His thoughts wandered to this one time when he'd gotten covered in snow and been like this when he was visiting his grandpa for christmas.

 _"Oh! Master Smith! Is Link okay?" Zelda had asked from just downstairs._

 _"Meh, he'll be fine, it's just a bad cold. Honestly, that kid is so frail... but to get sick while his parents are out buying presents of all times..."_

 _"Can I go see him?"_

 _"Sure."_

 _Link was glad Zelda had come to see him, but he felt her worry. He wanted to tell her he'd be fine... but his voice was clogged._

 _"Oh! How terrible! Hang in there, Link, I'll get the medicine!"_

 _She rushed out the room just as Grandpa Smith came in, saying, "You're lucky she's such a good friend."_

Yes. He _was_ lucky to have Zelda as a friend. Felo came back in, holding a large, wooden bowl.

"If you need to be sick, do it in 'ere, please." said Felo. Link nodded, his voice feeling clogged (not that he'd have said anything) like last time. This time, Zelda wasn't here because she was turned into a stone statue by Vaati. That's when another thought occurred to Link.

 _(Why a-am I not angry? Wh-what would Zelda say?)_

 _"It's 'cause you're nice, Link! Loads of people are_ n't nice."

...Yeah, that's _exactly_ what she would say. Link smiled.

"Are you feelin' better?" asked Felo. Link nodded, then shook his head. Yes, he was; but no, he wasn't. Not really, but... sort of. His head was still throbbing and he'd probably be sick again, but at least he didn't have to worry about Zelda any more- not if both Ezlo and the picori knew she'd be fine. "I'm gonna go get the medicine." said Felo, leaving Link alone again. This time, Link took a notebook and a pencil out of his bag and began to draw in it.

* * *

Ezlo left the room feeling like the worst guardian and companion in history. First, Vaati had been scared and unhappy and he hadn't noticed. Next, Link hadn't been feeling well and he hadn't noticed. And he'd yelled at them both. A lot.

The least he could do was teach Melari and the other six of his apprentices how to cook. While he was at it, he'd figure things out... Oh, but that worked _SO_ well nine years ago... Well he could always try again, right? Right. _(I'm horrible with kids...)_ thought Ezlo dejectedly.

Soon, he got to Melari, who was working on the Picori Blade with two of his apprentices. "Hello, Melari. Felo told me that you and the rest of your apprentices can't cook! Well, if you like, I can teach you since Link's sick and I can't help him right now..."

"Well, that does sound like a good offer. I suppose there'll be plenty of time to fix the sword while you two go and get the element- after Link gets better, of course- so sure, why not? I'm sure it'll be fun!" agreed Melari. Melari and his two apprentices followed Ezlo up the mines in a little procession, each of the other apprentices (except Felo) joining in as the procession passed them.

Once they were all in the kitchen, Melari put Ezlo on a very tall stool so he could talk to everybody.

"Ahem." said Ezlo, "First, you will be making something very basic- stew! It's not difficult- just gather up four pieces of meat -that's OPTIONAL by the way- and four chopped vegetables, not to mention the ingredients for the sauce, which are..."

As Ezlo went on and on over the instructions, Melari and the apprentices rushed around doing it and attempting to follow them with a little bit of success. Ezlo watched over them while he was talking to guarantee nothing exploded- he'd learned his lesson about _THAT_ when trying to teach HIS apprentice how to cook! Really- you leave him in that kitchen for five minutes and he goes and blows it up trying to make stew! True story, Vaati LITERALLY blew up the kitchen. In fact, it took two months to get that fixed to the right quality! Two months of berries and cold berry soup made him never want to eat another berry again!

However, Melari and his apprentices were doing a much batter job of it. Ezlo was soon taste-testing the stews. They all tasted different but delicious. This lesson was going well! Felo came in at one point to pick up a bottle of medicine, but that didn't disrupt the lesson at all.

* * *

Thanks to Rhinestone's support and helpful tips, as well as seeing that memory, Vaati was feeling better and paddling around in the water. That wasn't to say his fear was miraculously cured. It wasn't. But now he could swim if he had to. It was as if he'd come to terms with it, in a sense. As if he'd come to terms with the memory. The original voice in his head was cheering in there. These feelings... Vaati wasn't sure what to make of them. They made him feel... warmer. More... confident. Slightly less afraid. The fear was there, but it was the _fuel_ for everything else... it all felt so... bizarre. It made him feel stronger. More powerful.

What if he found the rest of his memories? What if they held the key to his safety? What if... he _combined_ this new strength with the light force? What then? _("What then?")_ echoed three voices back at him, one afraid, one anticipating, one taking this into account. Did he really want to know everything that he'd forgotten that day?

 _(Ignorance is bliss, as they say...)_ Thought Vaati, _(...but bliss has to end eventually.)_

 _"Hope. Vaati... hold on to hope." said Vale, in a fragment of a memory._

...Hope? Was that what that strange warm, slightly confident, feeling was?

"You can stop if you want to, goro." said Rhinestone, worried because she was just seeing Vaati stare into space.

"I'm feeling much better now." replied Vaati.

"You know what? Let's head over to Granite and buddies, goro. Bashing a wall sounds good right about now, goro!" announced Rhinestone.

Vaati put his sandals and his cloak back on, still rather WET but fine with that. After all, it _was_ yet another warm, sunny day. As the two of them walked to Goron's Cave, Rhinestone asked, "By the way, who else is there this time, goro?"

"Well, Granite asked me to ask Limestone where the other gorons were, and he told me where Basalt was, and when Basalt helped Granite, he told me where Obsidian and Tuff were, and when they helped them all out, Obsidian told me where you were!" explained Vaati.

"Oh, why didn't you tell me my cousin was there form the start?! Goro-Vaati, it's been _ages_ since I last caught up with her, goro! I'd have come along in a jiffy!" Chattered Rhinestone.

Vaati sighed, exasperated.

"By the way," continued Rhinestone as she followed Vaati through that corner of Minish Woods and down the edges of Lon Lon Ranch, "be careful, I heard there was a dangerous wind sorcerer called Vaati around here, goro!" Luckily, she didn't make any further connections. Vaati vaguely wondered wether all gorons were that dense. Well... the gorons he'd met so far _were_ friendly.

"Do you know where any of the other gorons are?" asked Vaati.

"Yeah- there's my brother, Andesite, I mean, he's always SO annoying, really, goro, I wouldn't mention him if I knew where anyone who isn't already helping Granite was, goro." grumbled Rhinestone, "Did you know, HE teased me because I'm a bit pink! Goro! He said, 'gorons aren't pink! Why are you pink, goro!' But you know what I said, goro?"

"What?" asked Vaati, interested.

Rhinestone grinned all over. "I said, 'well, who cares, if I'm pink I'm pink, goro!' HAH! You should have _SEEN_ the look on his face, goro! It was hilarious! Anyway, Limestone said something about Andersite going to get swamp weed for him, Goro-Vaati."

Vaati thought that was a very interesting perspective. He couldn't track down Andersite right now because Rhinestone was right there- and besides, now that he thought of it, it was a very good thing that he kept his things in a waterproof dimensional hole- it had taken a few tries to randomly get one with that property... His stomach grumbled. Oh, right. He'd forgotten to EAT.

"Oh no! Did you not have lunch, Goro-Vaati?" asked Rhinestone, "I know where to find some tasty rocks, goro! Oh wait, you don't eat rocks, do you, goro, Hmmm..." Vaati just continued towards Goron's Cave. He'd get something to eat as soon as Rhinestone was there, that was if he could find anything edible.

* * *

Link was sick in the bowl for the second time since getting it, all while drawing away in his notebook. Ugh. He always got sick so quickly... If only that didn't cause people to get upset... Being sick was a hinderance to everybody.

"Feeling better?" asked Felo, holding some herbal medicine and a spoon. He gave Link the spoon with some medicine in it, and Link had a bit. He could feel the innocence of everybody in his memories... There was just something about that little moment which really made Link see from a third's eye to the world. He felt much better and his throat was no longer feeling clogged. Link smiled. Felo smiled back before taking the bowl and the medicine out of the room.

Link sat on the bed, looking at his drawings of the minish in his nightmare and comparing them to his drawings of Vaati. The more he looked at them, the more he saw that they were one and the same. Were they memories? Link had no clue. Where did Ezlo fit in all of this? Link had no clue about that, either. Did Vaati himself know about any of this? Link couldn't help but wonder about these things as he sat on the bed with nothing to do but draw and think. Link began to draw some more pictures, and thought about Zelda. He thought about all those little moments- then giggled as he thought about the day he'd overheard Grandpa Smith and King Daltus talking about how they would make a really sweet couple one day! At first, Link didn't know what they meant, but then he'd looked at a book and burst out laughing. He and Zelda would always be there for each other- but _really... THAT?!_ Grownups were funny.

Just then, Melari came bursting into the room, with Ezlo triumphantly grinning atop his head. Melari was smiling too, and holding a delicious-smelling bowl of soup. He gave it to Link, along with a large spoon.

"Eat up, Boy! I've had plenty of lunch already! And guess what? Now everyone can cook! Well, at least a little bit." announced Ezlo, head held high, "This soup is good for bad colds!"

Link tasted it- and it was truly yummy. Really, really, yummy! He ate it all up faster than everybody in that room had expected, and felt very nearly completely better. He got right out of the bed and slipped past everybody to go take the bowl to the kitchen.

"Th-thanks a lot!" thanked Link, "The soup w-was really tasty!"

"He's feeling much better!" announced Ezlo, happily.

Link, smiling a large, innocent, smile, took the bowl to the kitchen with Melari, Ezlo (still on Melari's head) and Felo trailing behind him. However, Link was still a bit fatigued and would need plenty of rest if he wanted to go and get the element and everybody trailing behand him knew it. Despite this, Link _still_ insisted on helping Melari's seven apprentices with the washing up, in order to help the picori who'd been so nice to him.

Just outside the kitchen, Ezlo jumped off Melari's head.

"What a sweet boy." quietly said Melari to Ezlo.

"I agree," agreed Ezlo, "he is very nice... but a bit too trusting."

"No, no, being trusting is very normal for kids his age, I'd be worried if he wasn't." explained Melari.

"I'm terrible with children." admitted Ezlo, "I should have noticed he wasn't feeling well yesterday."

"Aw, don't blame yourself! Nobody noticed yesterday!" Exclaimed Melari, "Still, kids aren't usually like that after a bad cold..."

Link and the apprentices were soon done clearing up, and Melari's apprentices got back to their work, and Link wandered around a bit, taking a closer look around the mines, and taking out his blue rose and watering it, before putting it away and planting more pansillla seeds around. He knew he'd be fine by the next day- the picori made an excellent medicine!

Ezlo continued talking with Melari.

"Say... I have an apprentice. An apprentice in magic. He has no family left and I looked after him from the age of three... I think I did a terrible job knowing when he was unhappy. I should have known." Melari listened with interest.

"Well, let him know you care. Be a family figure- he'll need you even if he doesn't realise it!" he suggested.

"There was another problem- I don't understand him! Nobody does! He was... different. I should have been there for him. But I wasn't." Ezlo sighed. It felt good finally telling someone who understood. Maybe he should have asked for help earlier, even if it did harm his reputation. Melari thought for a bit.

"Then be there now!" he suggested.

Ezlo took those words in. Maybe he would find a way to be there for him. Even if said apprentice was out causing havoc (possibly) and had turned him into a hat. It was not too late- it was never too late.

"Thank you, Melari." replied Ezlo.

"No problem." said Melari, "Now why don't you go find Link?"

Ezlo hopped off. Then he turned round, and asked, "By the way... Why is nobody shocked about me being a talking hat?"

"Quite simply because it's obvious someone turned you into one." replied Melari.

Ezlo felt... better, but he also worried about both Link and Vaati. Was it too late to stop Vaati straying down the wrong path? Could he keep Link safe even though he got so ill so quickly? Also, Ezlo suspected there was a ghost involved with the two... A ghost of... whom?

* * *

Back at Goron's Cave, Rhinestone rushed off towards that tough wall, where Granite, Basalt, Obsidian and Tuff were all smashing away at the wall with zero luck.

"Hi Obsidian!" Greeted Rhinestone, I had a lot of fun on the way here, goro!"

"Oh really, goro? Can you come and _HELP,_ goro? We can talk while we get this wall down!" suggested Obsidian, before turning to face Vaati. "Thanks for all your help, Goro-Vaati!"

"Yeah, goro! We really owe you one, Goro-Vaati!" agreed Granite, pounding at the wall.

Rhinestone went over there and pounded at that wall with the others, Vaati giving them all a boost- but that was one tough wall. Vaati was beginning to think they'd reached the back of the cave, though the magical waves were still very clear and very strong...

"Aw! So close, goro!" loudly grumbled Tuff, "The tasty rocks are beyond here, goro!"

"Goro-Vaati, do ou think you could help smash this wall too?" asked Rhinestone.

"Sorry, but I can't bash walls." replied Vaati, "I'll just go get your brother to help."

He left the cave AGAIN and did the tracking spell once more, revealing that Andesite was right in the middle of Castor Wilds, at the bottom-left corner of the map. Below Castor Wilds was another blank space. Again, his stomach growled. Vaati set off to try and find something edible to eat for lunch, soon finding a very large berry bush. Vaati remembered those red berries- they were definitely edible, as he'd eaten them many times before. To a minish, they were about the size of a football. At his current size, they were very, very small.

Vaati gently, curiously plucked a berry of the bush, holding it between his forefinger and thumb. He thought, _(Just another reminder...)_ A reminder of how small, how insignificant he used to be. A reminder of how powerful he already was now. A reminder of how significant, safe he was going to be. Just searching for the light force was making him stronger, it seemed... Though it was very possible to make it bigger, it felt far more satisfying just to pop it into his mouth and crush it between his teeth. Even now, it was still deliciously sweet. Just less filling. Vaati continued chomping the berries until there were none left.

Then he checked the map again. Yes, the goron was still at Castor Wilds. So how close could he get before he'd have to fly..? Vaati teleported to South Hyrile Field and flew the rest of the way, passing some drill fish (drill-fish live underground and swim through dirt and rocks, but sometimes the show up for a breath of air) diving into the earth. As it turned out, Castor Wilds was a massive SWAMP with some magical waves, but nothing nearly powerful enough to possibly be the light force. Now, the swamp was not the problem here. The problem was the green-eyed goron with the triangular light-green-forest-green scarf _S_ _TUCK_ in the swamp up to his waist. Vaati landed on a nearby, high hill in the middle of the swamp, after blasting some ropes (snake-like aggressive monsters). He looked down at the goron.

"Hey! Do you happen to be Andesite!?" He yelled down to the goron.

"YES, goro, but I'm sinking! HELP, GORO!" cried the goron, Andesite.

Vaati was very annoyed. Now he was going to have to risk being found out! Well... he would have to deal with that. Vaati flew down from the high hill and grabbed Andesite's flailing arms in an attempt to drag him out of there. Being mainly made out of an extremely hard type of rock, gorons were _heavy,_ and the swamp wasn't letting go. Even a bit of focus magic wasn't enough, especially since it wasn't exactly Vaati's forte [for-tay]. Vaati pulled, heaved, yanked and flew upwards at top speed while holding onto Andesite- to no avail. The goron was very much still _stuck_ , and very much still _sinking_.

Vaati shook his head. Both of them were not going to like this... He let Andesite go, and summoned those drill-fish he'd seen earlier from South Hyrule Field, sending them into the swamp. Confused, they drilled into the first rock they saw- aka ANDESITE'S BACK. Vaati quickly grabbed his arms again.

"OW, GORO!" shrieked Andesite, flying though the air thanks to the pressure of the fish shoving him and Vaati yanking him. Said sorcerer swung him around a few times, then threw him directly onto that large hill Vaati had stood on earlier. Amazingly, the ground wasn't harmed. Neither was Andesite. "Ow... dizzy... thanks, goro..." groaned Andesite, getting up. Vaati landed next to him.

"So _how_ exactly did you manage to get yourself STUCK!?" asked Vaati with great annoyance. The wind rushed around above his head, sending a couple of birds off-course.

"Trying to get swamp-weed for Limestone... I didn't think swamps were this STICKY, goro..." explained Andesite. The wind calmed down. Vaati just shook his head in disbelief and grabbed Andesite's arm to teleport them both out of Castor Wilds, and to just near Goron's Cave.

"Huh? Goro? Where are we, goro?" asked Andersite, looking around, "By the way, what's your name, goro?"

"My name's Vaati." stated Vaati nonchalantly.

"Vaati?" Andesite stopped short. " _The_ Vaati?! Vaati the dangerous sorcerer, goro?!" Apparently, no, not all gorons were that dense. He'd have to get it through Andesite's head that- "What strange RUMOURS people have come up about you, goro!" suddenly continued Andesite.

It took all of Vaati's self-control not to burst out laughing.

"Apparently, you turned the princess to stone, and it's your fault monsters are everywhere, goro! But goro, I've heard rumours before, and my mother always said to take a rumour with a grain of sand, so I'm not believing it, Goro-Vaati!" laughed Andesite. Then he suddenly stopped. "By the way, where _are_ we, goro?"

Actually, yes, all the gorons that he'd met so far _were_ that dense. Well, what do you know. The Human World really _was_ full of surprises!

"We're just near the cave where Granite needs help breaking a wall." explained Vaati, "He asked me to ask Limestone where the other gorons were, and he told me where Basalt was, and when Basalt helped Granite, he told me where Obsidian and Tuff were, and when they helped them all out, Obsidian told me where Rhinestone was, and after I had a swimming lesson with her, she told me where you were and is in there helping them out right now!"

"Oh, that sounds fun, goro! By the way, do you keep a diary? I tried once, but I broke it, goro..." chattered Andesite while walking alongside Vaati. He didn't answer, but he thought about his diary. About how he'd thought it was like a friend. Friends listen, don't they? They keep secrets. They help you out, and you can trust them. That was what he'd thought friendship was, back then, before _that_ happened. Before he'd learned it was all a lie. Now his diary was just a memory-storage-case, really.

When they reached the entrance of the cave, Andesite curled up into a boulder-like ball and ROLLED right at Rhinestone, who grabbed him with her arms and flung him to her left. He uncurled onto his feet just as Vaati caught up with him.

"Hi, everyone, goro!" called out Andesite.

"Hi Goro-Andesite..." mumbled Rhinestone, then she said a bit louder, "So aren't you going to _HELP,_ goro?!"

"Yeah, goro! I'll smash more of that wall than you!" hollered Andesite, facing the wall and smashing at it, the other gorons doing much the same.

"Hah! I'll bash that wall harder than you ever could!" announced Rhinestone, bashing that wall even harder than before.

Vaati sent them all a magical energy boost, and the six gorons SMASHED, BASHED, and completely DESTROYED that wall right before Vaati's eye. He couldn't help but be reminded of what 'teamwork' was when he looked at all those gorons smashing that tough wall. They somewhat reminded Vaati of _him,_ before _that_ happened, before he'd remembered how to feel anything, how to be sociable, how to be... nice. But no. Now was going to be _NOTHING_ to do with _him_.

The gorons, except Granite, all went off to eat the, apparently tasty, rocks lining the cave. Vaati could feel where the energy was originating from- everywhere. Was there some secret, perhaps? A large chest sat in the middle of the room, at the back of the cave. Looking around, Vaati realised that there was no secret- this entire cave was filled with incredibly rare ores, all five of the magic-controlling ores used in magical items and weaponry. Among such magical ores, Vaati thought the true location of the light force, maybe a riddle or a map, could be within that chest.

"Thank you, Goro-Vaati! You know what? Keep whatever's in that chest over there as a thank you from us gorons. I don't know what's in there, but I'm sure it isn't useful to us gorons anyway, goro!"

With that, Granite rolled off to eat the rocks inside the walls, and Vaati approached the chest. This could be it... The next step. This would be a moment he'd remember for good. Yes, it would be indeed... Vaati reached his left hand inside the chest, and pulled out...

A bottle. A normal, glass, EMPTY, bottle.

This was getting ridiculous! Vaati just sighed in disappointment and sat down. At least he could... put a drink in it? Use it to shrink or grow liquids? Oh... well... now he was back to square two, square one not even having a clue, when it came to finding the light force. It seemed the only treasure here was the rare ores, and maybe the bottle. Vaati had had ENOUGH of this nonsense. He hadn't wanted to cause a ruckus, but it was clear that finding the light force alone was nearly impossible. Wait- pause there- _alone_? What if he possessed the king and got those dumb soldiers to help him find the light force? Obviously they'd be terrible at it, but that wouldn't matter, because he could search around the castle in peace and quiet. Besides, he'd already caused a bit of ruckus anyway.

That's when Vaati decided he would rest up tonight, before teleporting to the castle and possessing the king in the morning. After all, possession requires quite the skill and power. With this new Plan B in mind, Vaati wrote in his diary.

'To whoever reads this thing,

As it turns out, the light force is not in Goron's Cave. After all this, the magical waves were coming from a treasure cove of quetzallite, swallite, macawlite, cuccoite, and phoenillite [fee-o-ni-lite], the five magical ores. Some person wanted it all sealed up! There was also a bottle in a chest. The gorons have been really friendly, if dense, both in the mind and physical sense. They didn't even care that I was different from them... maybe I won't go without a goodbye. Naturally, I've already come up with a Plan B- possess the king and send those useless soldiers off to look for the light force, while I do some proper searching in the castle. According to legend, the minish gave the light force to the royal family, so perhaps they have it hidden away somewhere. As for my memories, I wonder why they return to me now... Well, that doesn't matter. I don't need to know. But... I'm curious. Surely the light force shall be the key to it all... After that? Who knows? Not me, or you, I guess.

-Vaati.'

After putting away his pencil and diary, he curled up right then and there, falling asleep almost instantaneously, with no dreams. Outside, the sun was just setting.

* * *

Link, now feeling much, much better, had had a nice time getting to know the mountain minish, drawing portraits of them digging up shiny crystals and metals, and having an all-round nice day. Tomorrow, he would go get the next element and be just that bit closer to saving Zelda! He was scared of the nightmare, but he knew he needed sleep, so sleep he would. They varied. A lot. The feelings coming from everyone in it, the fear, the anger, the pain, it all felt so real, yet it always ended the same way- with the water, the flood, the drowning, and the cry for Va. Link didn't think about it too much. But he did wonder wether it was Vaati and his older brother who'd gone through so much...

Ezlo, having found Link a couple of hours earlier, was now back on Link's head, thinking about when Link had talked in his sleep that other time, in somebody else's voice...

 _"_ _Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"_

Va. Vah? Vah-tee, perhaps? Who's voice was that? Link was showing all the side effects of having a ghost in his subconsciousness! Was this ghost connected to Vaati in some way..? But that _had_ to be Crazy Theorist talking, right? A young boy's magic potential alone could never host a ghost. Though a ghost would strengthen him physically, his/her regrets would most likely be like a reoccurring nightmare... maybe the theory did hold water, but not much.

Meanwhile, Link was just heading back to the guest room, feeling Ezlo's nagging sense that _something_ was wrong, that he was overlooking _something_ important. He knew not to ask. After all, Ezlo would blurt it all out when he was ready.

So far, both Link and Ezlo had made many memories up here on Mount Crenel, and as the two of them lay down somewhere comfortable and fell asleep, the entire mines being lit by the orangey-red light of the sunset... Far away from there, Vaati had made and discovered memories too, in his own unrecorded journey.


	9. Chapter 9: Magic Lessons

**I know, I know, this took double the time to post along with Chapter 10. What do you think? Should I do this one at a time or Ezlo/Link and Vaati's POVs at the same time? I'd like to know what people think. So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Vaati had a nightmare about the Twilight Minish fighting over supplies, a nightmare that was a memory. The past was... returning to him? He had to face the waters of Lake Hylia in order to find a goron called Rhinestone, discovering within the memory of the flood about his brother, Vale. Meanwhile, over at Melari's Mines on Mount Crenel, Link wasn't feeling too good and Ezlo accidentally made it worse with his noisy yelling! With Link ill, Ezlo decided to help the mountain minish learn how to cook. They all heard Vaati's loud scream and Link felt his fear, making the two of them think about Vaati a bit. After getting Rhinestone to Goron's Cave, Vaati headed over to Castor Wilds, where he had some trouble getting Andesite, another goron, out of the swamp. Sadly, after all that trouble, there was absolutely NOTHING USEFUL in Goron's Cave, so Vaati decided on a Plan B. By now, Link was feeling better, so, back on his head, Ezlo thought about Link's crying out in his sleep, and the possibility of a ghost being connected with both Link and Vaati..._

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Magic Lessons**

 _"Don't abandon me..." a ghostly cry, coming once more, "Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"_

Drowning.

 _Cold. Cold. Why this-_

"BOY! WAKE UP!" yelled Ezlo. Link, now fully better, bolted right out of bed. Link put Ezlo back on, and then the two of them headed straight down to the bottom of Melari's Mines, where Melari was still fixing The Picori Blade with Felo and another apprentice- the sound of the hammers banging against the sword reminded Link of his grandpa's house. Poor Grandpa Smith would be worried about him and poor everyone else would always catch him in a bad mood... Up on his head, Ezlo was muttering things about 'theories' and 'ghosts'. Link didn't really get it.

"Are you both fully awake?" asked Melari, pausing his work. Ezlo and Link both nodded. "Great- you should have some breakfast before you head to the human mine, also known as Cave of Fire. That's where the Fire Element is, I believe. We'll fix this sword while you're at it!"

"Thank you for all your help." replied Ezlo.

After they'd had breakfast and Link had helped with the dishes, the two of them left Melari's mines from the west exit. Just outside was a magic amplifier that Ezlo used to make himself, Link, all of Link's items, and Link's clothes grow to their normal size (well, to Link anyway). After all, magic is a very precise thing. One has to be careful with runes... Nearby was another one of those exploding stones.

 _"Holder of the sacred powers, we grant you the power of wind..."_ whispered the voice of the stone.

"Hey! That stone marker exploded! And there's another one of those symbols!" Exclaimed Ezlo, "...You know, no matter how many times that happens, it still rattles me." After that, Link climbed up a nearby ladder, which led into the mine.

Inside, the first thing both Ezlo and Link noticed was that it was very, very HOT in here... Link was feeling a bit sweaty already and Ezlo was instantly feeling like he'd burst into flame any second from now!

"Wow! It's hot in here! come on! Let's not just stand around wasting time!" Nagged Ezlo, "Find that Element so we can get out of here!"

Link went through a doorway in front of him first, only to reach a dead end, so he backtracked and went through the door to his right.

Inside that room were six pots and four walking bombs. The walking bombs felt exactly like the slime-creatures, the rock-shooting creatures, the jumping-spider-like creatures, etc- like a few mini black holes of emotionlessness that seemed to suck up reality, as if they shouldn't be there. So Link whacked them with his sword. The monsters were made of metal, so this produced a few sparks, which in turn lit their fuses. This seemed to make the monsters run around at top speed and smash whatever was in the way, so Link hid in the doorway and protected himself with his shield (Random Story Fact: I actually did that in the game). One of them exploded near a loose wall, revealing a new room beyond this one.

Meanwhile, up on Link's head, Ezlo was thinking about Link's strangely powerful magic potential, and that odd magic which had protected Ezlo from falling all the way down the side of Mount Crenel. Obviously he wouldn't be able to teach him very much, but maybe he could teach Link the basics of magic... he sure did seem to learn things quickly. After all, he couldn't let that magic potential go to waste!

 _"After all, Boy, your potential can't go to waste!"_

 _"Wow! Thanks Master Ezlo!"_

 _"Nah... between you and me, I always hated that title. Just call me Ezlo."_

 _"Okay... Ezlo! I won't let you down!"_

...and look how THAT turned out. But... It was fairly obvious that Link wasn't like him. His aura was different. More accepting, adapting. He'd have really fit in at Vaati's old school. _(Maybe if I take this second chance...)_ thought Ezlo, _(I can be there for Vaati, too.)_

A loud **CLANG** snapped Ezlo out of his thoughts. In the room the walking bombs had revealed, there were two blue turtle-like monsters with very spiky shells, and Link had just whacked one with his sword, only for it to have no effect on their spiky armour.

"Your sword can't make a dent in those shells!" yelled Ezlo, "Flip them over!"

Link put up his shield in response, and one of the turtle-monsters-

 **CLANG! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!**

Link and Ezlo shuddered at the sound of the monster's shell sliding across the stone floor. A few sparks flew... was that blue shell made of metal?! They spent a couple of seconds recovering before Link ran over to it and stabbed his sword through its soft underside, making it go poof in a bunch of white smoke and yellow sparks. Suddenly, Ezlo noticed the other one coming from behind him!

"WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU, BOY!" screeched Ezlo as Link dodged, spinning round and slashing the monster on its underside all at the same time. A locked door to the side of the room opened, and Link carefully went through it. Now he was back at that room with the dead end, but now on the other side of the dead end. Six green rupees sat innocently on the floor. Worried about Zelda, Grandpa Smith worrying, and everybody else having to worry about a very grumpy grandpa, Link ignored them and walked down the stairs behind them, and past the stairs were more walking bombs. He defeated them -made them blow themselves up- again.

"Hey, Boy!" yelled Ezlo, slightly less loud than usual. Link noticed that he wasn't annoyed- in fact, he was positively excited! "I can teach you a bit of magic, if you like! I can't let your potential go to waste!" Link nodded excitedly, nearly making Ezlo fall off his head again. "Boy, next time could you answer with YOUR _VOICE_?!" asked Ezlo, annoyed again. Link giggled. His noisy hat friend's antics were funny! "What's so funny?!" asked Ezlo. Link didn't answer.

 _(Y-You.)_ he thought, smiling as he continued down a dark passageway. Ezlo decided to start talking while Link continued through Cave of Fire, up some more stairs, and following the old mine cart tracks. It was clear that the place was deserted.

"There are five main types of magic, called primary magics." explained Ezlo, "They are- transformation, turning one thing into something else, summoning, bringing objects from far away- OBJECTS, Boy, NOT people- and you have to know WHERE something is to summon it, focus, shifting or moving magic through yourself or magical items, passive, magic which speeds up natural healing processes and gives extra energy, and offensive, pure forms of magic used for self-defence or defending others. GOT THAT, BOY?!"

"Y-yes." said Link, not wanting Ezlo to fall off his head. Link was standing right next to a mine cart. Ezlo noticed it.

"This must be what the humans who built this mine used to get around here. Maybe we should hop in." suggested Ezlo. Link looked a little doubtfully at the rickety mine cart. Then it seemed as if his vision was focusing as he stared at it for a second or two- it was safe, sort of. In Link's mind, half in, half out of reality, the nails of the mine cart held tighter, stronger, so the mine cart wouldn't fall apart.

 _(Riding it could be fun!)_ thought Link. Ezlo got the wrong idea. Secretly, _HE_ felt rather scared.

"Hm? What? After all this, you don't expect me to believe you're scared! There's nothing to be afraid of here! Come on, let's go! I'm not scared!" Link felt Ezlo's fear and knew he was lying. He hopped into the cart and grabbed on tight to Ezlo's rim with one hand and the side of the mine cart with the other, the cart whizzing along really faster than anything Link had felt before, and it was the most exciting thing he had ever done in his life! He really liked moving so fast, in such a rush...

"WHAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" squealed Link in excitement.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Ezlo, feeling motion sick and terrified he was going to fly away.

Link thought it was awesome! Ezlo hated it.

When they reached the end of the track, the cart buckled, sending Link and Ezlo flying. Link instinctively flipped and landed on his feet without even wobbling. Ezlo felt sick and dizzy.

"Sweet jumping jellyfish, that was awful..." groaned Ezlo, flopping down and seeing Link's giddy smile, "Hey, kid, what are you smiling about? I knew it was madness to risk our lives in that rickety human contraption!" Link gave him a look. However, he knew Ezlo had been terrified. "From now on, let's stick to our feet! I mean... your feet."

In front of them, there was a doorway. There were also minish-sized passageways to Link's left and right. Link went through the door in front of him, defeating two red slime-monsters and a walking bomb along the way. Though the next doorway were even more monsters and a blocked-up passageway. Meanwhile, Ezlo decided to continue his magic lesson.

"Each individual person has a particular affinity for one of the primary magics." Explained Ezlo, now recovered, "Your magic depends on YOU, YOUR PERSONALITY, and WHO YOU ARE. Magic is closely linked to the inner spirit and as such will always connect with who you are and how you change. The magic you have an affinity for is called your skill. Now... ARE YOU LISTENING, BOY!?"

 **BOOM!**

"..." Link _had_ been listening. He'd also just blown up the blocked wall using a bomb. Through said wall was four red, round, metal-masked bird monsters.

"Oh, good. Target practice." commented Ezlo, "Now... let's start with summoning magic. It's not too hard. See that rock over there?" He turned towards a very large rock over at the left side of the room.

"Y-yes." said Link.

"Open a hole above the rock." instructed Ezlo, "Trace your magic past the very air, over that rock, and remember to do the same over one of those monsters!" Link sort of got it. He traced two circles into the air with his left forefinger, and a black hole tore open above the monster and the rock. The rock went though one hole and out the other, squashing the monster and effectively 'poofing' it. The holes closed as the rock went through them.

"Hmmm... Good, my boy, but that's clearly not your skill... Let's try transformation magic next. See that rock you summoned? See past its surface and see all the tiny dots it it made of. Now, use your hands and move all those little dots into a new shape. GOT IT, BOY?!" Link did get it. He was already seeing all those small dots, and twisting them, moving them. The rock was turned into a wheel of the same material, which rolled down the slope in the room, squashing another monster in the process.

"Brilliant, my boy, but that's obviously not your skill either, that is obvious to me. Hmm... Perhaps passive magic is more your style. Now, focus on yourself or me- NO, YOURSELF, BOY!- Think about where you need healing... In fact, try fixing that cut on your hand!" Link looked down. Sure enough, there _was_ a cut on his hand. Link just hadn't noticed when it got there; maybe it was from the mine cart. "Focus on healing." Link did, and he watched as the cut closed itself up, a scab forming and falling off very quickly. It wasn't hard, but he had to concentrate hard to do it.

"Hmm... Nope." Ezlo thought about offensive magic.

 _"When will I learn to use attacking magic? When?"_

 _"When you learn that it is NOT to be used irresponsibly and in self-defence in DIRE situations ONLY."_

 _"Aw... How come?"_

 _"If you are not careful, you could kill someone."_

 _"...I don't want to kill..."_

...But was it safe to teach Link it now? Ezlo thought so.

"Try offensive magic next- PUT THAT SWORD AWAY, BOY!- you need to use anger, or protectiveness..." instructed Ezlo, "...but anger works better, to release magical energy in it's purest form. Release that emotional energy at one of those monsters!" Confused, Link tried to be angry. But he wasn't angry, _couldn't_ be angry. So he tried protectiveness instead. A shaky little ball of magic the colour of everything flew out of Link's palm and smashed into one of the monsters, defeating it.

"No! No! You're TERRIBLE at that, Boy! Next try- LOOK OUT, BOY!"

Link grabbed his sword and focused magical energy within it before releasing said energy through the sword into a spin attack, whacking the monster's mask, spinning it around, and whacking the monster behind the mask, defeating it instantly.

"EXCELLENT!" announced Ezlo, "My boy, I should have guessed that focus magic was your skill from the beginning!" Just then, a magic amplifier appeared in the centre of the room. "How interesting! So there was a magic amplifier hidden away in here, hmm? Let me know when you want to shrink, boy!"

Link hopped onto the portal, and Ezlo fiddled with the runes in order to shrink them both. Focus magic can be used in many different ways, and now Link's strength, fast-runing and learning, usage of magic items and understanding of magic all made sense. However, something so basic wouldn't usually work to that degree of accuracy...

He couldn't help but look back to that day Vaati had transformed a cushion into his favourite (and only) teddy bear. That had been far more advanced than turning a rock into a wheel-shape due to all the different materials involved (the cotton, fabric, string and buttons), and Ezlo had gotten annoyed because he wouldn't turn it back again. Ezlo's skill being more of the summoning kind, he couldn't really undo something more specific to advanced transformation magic...

While Ezlo was thinking about this, Link was going through a minish-sized door, and running past some now-gigantic monsters, running through more doorways. He was excited about learning magic, and hoped that Ezlo would teach Zelda once she was safely de-stonified. She would really like that! Link was actually not so scared of this place, which was so much like a dungeon. There were scarier things in the nightmare. Wondering about how Ezlo knew so much despite being a hat, Link simply kept on running through the minish-sized passages until he reached a room filled with incredibly hot fire and even hotter lava. Now it was obvious why everybody had left this mine... Taking a deep breath, Link leapt downwards, landing next to a portal and several burning piles of rubble.

"YUCKY! You're all sweaty!" complained Ezlo, "And I feel like I'm going to burst into flame!" Link ran across some huge rocks, which were floating in the lava. They sank behind him. "Oh my!" gasped Ezlo, "It looks really, REALLY hot in that lava! Trust me: Falling into that would be a bad idea. I'm sure you agree."

Link pushed a button before continuing across the lava, to the now-open door. Through it, the next room was absolutely covered in deep lava- Link took out one of his water bottles and drank a lot of the water; all this heat was making him thirsty. "HEY!" yelled Ezlo, "I want some too!" Link poured the rest of the water on top of Ezlo, which made him feel a lot less hot and a lot more sloshy. "Thanks, Boy..." said Ezlo. Link put the empty bottle back in his bag.

Floating on the lava was another large rock, this time moving across the lava thanks to the currents. Link got on it, then got off it once he reached the other side. There, there were a lot of deep holes and odd metal bugs. They felt like nothing, neither animal nor monster. How odd. Link tapped one carefully with his sword, and it curled up into a metal ball. He then used it to fill up a hole, then did the same with the others.

He found 50 rupees in a treasure chest nearby, then went up some stairs. There was a closed door blocking the way forwards, and also some rocks which were immovable from Link's side, though there was a treasure chest on top of a pillar beyond them. Link walked over to two torches which were lighting the place, and just below the edge of the floor was a whirlwind above all the lava.

"Look! A whirlwind! You're not going to jump, are you, Boy? ...BOY?!" commentated Ezlo. Link grabbed onto his rim and jumped. The whirlwind combined with the hot air kept Ezlo expanded, and they flew across the lava, reaching the other side of the immovable rocks from earlier. Pushing a button near the pillar opened a door, then Link pushed the pillar into a large hole in front of it. The pillar filled the hole, leaving only the treasure chest. Inside it was a small key. Link put it away. As he went through the door, Ezlo decided to resume his magic lesson. Link was now back in the room with the cart, and he stuffed Ezlo into his bag, surprising Ezlo. Inside the bag, Ezlo shivered. It seemed that this bag had been given the properties of a food-storage area... Both dry and wet at the same time, perfect for storing anything food-ish. That boy had lucked out, as the properties of a dimensional hole were always totally random.

Link took Ezlo out again once he was off the rickety ride. "WHAT was _THAT_ for?!" Shouted Ezlo.

"Sorry..." apologised Link, "B-but since you h-hate that r-ride so much, I thought it w-would help."

"Well, that _DID_ help." admitted Ezlo, "I didn't even realise you rode one of those things! But next time, TELL me Boy, won't you?" _(What a kind and considerate boy.)_ thought Ezlo, _(What is it about him that makes me feel safe, somehow?)_ Ezlo could never really understand _why,_ but Link's random acts of kindness and how much he knew the boy already, Ezlo found himself _wondering_ about things. _Discovering_ things. Thinking about things that shouldn't be able to be. The way he seemed more connected with dreams than reality... The way Ezlo had _seen_ a version of Vaati sitting next to him the other day... There was something about that boy called Link which made him _wonder_ if it really was all just Crazy Theorist talking... Then he remembered. Said BOY'S grandpa was going to _FLIP_ when he found out that Link had stepped _one toe_ in here!

Meanwhile, Link had crossed the tracks and hit a switch, changing the direction of the mine cart tracks. He then went back to the cart and said, "E-Ezlo, I'm going on a-a mine cart." before putting Ezlo into the magic bag again. Ezlo appreciated the warning, though he was back out of the bag in less than three seconds. Link found himself back in the room with the blue-shelled turtle-monsters again, but now that he wasn't minish-size, he could go through the door that led up ahead, into the next room.

Just through the door, Link fell into a convieniently-placed hole as a trap clinked just above Ezlo's head, nearly clipping a little bit of his loose threads off. After that, Link easily climbed back out of the hole. The room had some traps at the edges, and to Link's right, there was an up-side down mine cart. Though Link tried, he just couldn't get a good enough grip to flip it up the right way so he just walked on the tracks, much to Ezlo's relief.

Along the tracks, over a lot of lava, there were two doors. The one on the right wouldn't open unless Link was on a mine cart, but he could go though the left one. Link did so. Through the door was a pathway, which led to a pit. Against Ezlo's very loud advice, Link leapt straight into it, where they were instantly surrounded by eight metal-spiky-slime-monsters. Ezlo wondered if Link would beat them all with that football again. Instead, he took Ezlo off and threw him to the side of the pit, before drawing his sword and shield in a 'ready and steady' position, as he liked to think of it. Link was feeling a challenge. there was something guiding him from his heart in that moment and using the football, while it would have been perfectly sensible, didn't feel quite right.

Ezlo could only watch in astonishment as Link slashed away at all those monsters, left eye electric-blue, right eye his normal black. Link concentrated magical energy into his sword... and spun, spinning into the air and spinning down again, landing right back on his feet, sword pointed downwards. Every single one of the monsters went poof at once. As for _where_ in Hyrule he'd learned that one? Answer- Vaati. Link had been paying attention when Vaati had pulled it on Mira, and had simply imitated it. Link _watched_ things, then found ways for him to do the same. That was something beyond magic, yet so simple it was invisible to everyone. Ezlo's brain was completely and utterly boggled. He knew they'd be back, but for now a chest appeared in the centre of the room, just behind Link, who turned around and opened it as Ezlo hopped over to see what he'd found. Inside the chest was a long, wooden rod with a curled tip. On top of it was a note.

'This is the Cane of Paaci [Pah-kee], a magical item which flips things over. How to use: Channel magical energy through wherever you're holding it (straight end of cane recommended) and point the curled end at whatever you want to flip over. Be warned, THIS IS NOT A TOY! Flipping people onto their heads may seem funny, but that CAN BE FATAL! So don't do it, even if your companion is very noisy, annoying, and pretty much glued to your head!'

 _(Th-that sounds like E-Ezlo.)_ thought Link.

Luckily, there was a door in the pit which had opened as soon as Link beat all the monsters. Link put Ezlo back on and went through the door.

"Where did you learn to DO that move, Boy?" asked Ezlo.

"V-Vaati." replied Link.

"WHAT?! Well, anyway, next time, DON'T THROW ME TO THE SIDE LIKE THAT, BOY! I don't want to get torn to pieces!" complained Ezlo. _(ARRRRGGGHHH! I really need to stop that ATTITUDE!)_

In the next room, there was a large rock with four great big stalagmites rising from it. Link wouldn't be able to stand on that, so he tried using the Cane of Paaci to flip it over- and it worked. The large stone flipped over, revealing a very much flat underside that Link used as a stepping stone to get across the lava and to the large, conveniently-placed hole next to a very flat wall. Ezlo noticed it, and got an idea.

"Hey, kid! Why don't you take that Cane of Paaci and fire it at that hole?" he suggested, "I mean, you'll never know what'll happen 'till you try, right?" Link though that sounded like a fun idea, so he did, and hung on tightly to Ezlo's rim as he jumped into the hole and the magically-charged energy (as opposed to magical energy- there's a difference) sent him spinning upwards. Link flipped over several times on the way up, landing on his feet up on top of the higher ground, above the wall. He next pressed a button. Ezlo was very dizzy... A door just in front of them opened, and they were right back at the room with the upside-down mine cart. Link flipped it the right way up using the Cane of Paaci before putting Ezlo into the separate dimension in the magic bag again.

This time, Ezlo tried to take a look around while he was in there- and saw all of Link's food supplies, a small key, the gust jar, the Cane of Paaci, that map of Deepwood Shrine, the bomb bag, a sleeping bag, an old bike helmet, Link's giant butterfly net _(HOW can such a small boy even CARRY that?!)_ , four giant packets of pansilla seeds, a spare belt and tunic, a green bottle, a blue bottle, a red bottle, a violet bottle and a black jar lablled C.H.S.M.S, two spare hammers, a large collection of _pink_ _hair ties_ , a spare pillow, that football, a spare pair of boots, the picnic rug, two old notebooks, three pencils, a pencil-sharpener, a bunch of colourful dried flowers, a tea spoon, a pair of scissors, thirteen bottles of water (one of them was empty), a very clean green hairbrush that looked like it had never been used, a jade-green watering can which was not-quite filled with water, three packets of the medium-sized packets of special flower fertiliser, and Link's single blue rose in a pot. Naturally, Ezlo wondered what in The Human World could have possibly possessed him to pack all these things! Okay, so SOME of them were perfectly logical. But hair ties? And a HAIRBRUSH?! One _LOOK_ at that rat's nest on his head and you'd think he didn't know what a hairbrush was! Link's hand just came in out of nowhere and grabbed Ezlo, taking him out of the bag again.

Link, after putting Ezlo back on his head- Ezlo thinking abut what in the world Link could do with PINK hair ties- ,pushed another pillar into another hole and opened another chest, getting another small key. Link, pulling another bottle of water out of his bag and drinking it, was really hoping to be able to get out of here soon... Ezlo was too. Link put the -now empty- bottle away.

Next, he opened a locked door which was back in the room where he'd flipped over the rock and went down the stairs beyond it. There, there was another up-side down mine cart and a magic amplifier. There, Ezlo made them both shrink. Past some humongous, sharp, spiky traps, Link found a minish passageway, and past that were a lot of rocks, and some harmless-seeming red flowers. However, at the end of the passage, Ezlo made them both big again using a magic amplifier, and the red flowers, now with sharp blades, attacked the two of them when Link ran through the path designed by all the rocks. He then went over to the up-side down mine cart, flipped it over, put Ezlo to safety and rode it. After the cart reached the end of the tracks, Link put Ezlo on his head again, as usual.

"I'm tired of going round in circles... And I'm burning up and YOU'RE SWEATY! HURRY UP, Boy, I'M BORED!" complained Ezlo, "You know what? I'll teach you about gifts next!"

"W-Wait." said Link, hitting a switch, putting Ezlo into the bag and riding in another mine cart.

Once he was back on Link's head, he continued talking while Link continued filling holes and unblocking the pathway. "So, a gift is a powerful magic ability that varies with the person involved. Only people with the very highest of magic potential are born with gifts. However, rare and powerful gifts come with a corresponding price, for example, your gift, the gift of sharing souls, has the price of being incapable of feeling a certain influential emotion, which can ondirectly split an entire group of emotions. Your particular gift allows you to feel what I feel, for example if I'm cross at you, you can feel that cross-ness. However, if you held eye-contact with me, you would feel who I am deep down! If you were to develop your gift, you might be able to understand my innermost fears, goals, etcetera! But be warned! The more you develop your gift, the higher its price goes. Be careful not to develop it too much, or you have a risk of not being able to feel powerful emotions... such as love."

Link found all this extremely interesting, but it was a bit frightening... At long last, it was time for lunch. Yes, lunch. Ezlo hopped off Link's head as soon as he saw that Link was taking more of his grandpa's sandwiches out of his bag. The two of them just sat there thinking while eating sandwiches. Neither of them spoke a word.

Link wondered what Vaati was up to now- he had ideas about the mysterious purple sorcerer. To be honest, the more he thought about Vaati the less he believed that Vaati was really a bad person. Link could not forget the loneliness, or the strange ache of being _different_ from everybody else... Besides, once this was all over, Link was sure Vaati would apologise after he'd found whatever he was looking for, and maybe they'd all be friends! The thought felt so much nicer than the fear, worry and anger the grownups felt. If he ran into Vaati, Link decided to try and solve the problem and help him out of it, and in the process he was certain Ezlo would feel better too! It was clear the two of them had once had a strong bond of sorts- even though the bond seemed a bit one-sided. In the nightmare, Link was sure now that the little brother was Vaati. That feeling of fear and those marks underneath his eyes were undeniable proof... so what did it all mean? How had Vaati met Ezlo in the first place? How confusing...

Ezlo was thinking about Link's nightmares and the ghost he could be hosting, still not sure if the theory was Crazy Theorist talking or not. Hmm... Well, if Link was hosting a ghost he'd _KNOW_ he was hosting a ghost. Yet Link didn't seem to know at all. Maybe he'd tried to help years ago but forgotten? Nah, _THAT_ one _had_ to be Crazy Theorist talking! Then there was Vaati. Ezlo had a plan for if they ran into HIM. It would be simple. First, he'd tell him off. Vaati being Vaati, he'd probably ask if Ezlo was going to waste his time all day. Then Ezlo would apologise for not being there and ask wholeheartedly if Vaati would come back home with him- after fixing the princess and apologising to Link and everybody else of course. Even if he didn't want to, Ezlo would support his decision and help him learn more about the human world. Who knows, maybe he'd end up being friends with Link and Zelda. Ahh, what an unlikely fantasy... But hey, why not try? He couldn't just give up on him now!

After lunch, Link went down a wide corridor- which ended in a _humongous_ room absolutely filled with lava. There were floating rocks flowing and moving with the lava in front of them, hot blasts forming whirlwinds above them, and an endless hole of liquified heat swirling beneath Link's feet, the solid rock they were standing on _just_ being cool enough not to melt into the waves of heat burning Link and Ezlo in this place filled with fire, seemingly blazing from the lava itself, said liquid glowing, lighting up the whole place, Ezlo feeling as if he were being burned inside out, as if he would spontaneously combust right there and then. Link promptly pulled out another bottle of water- and poured the whole thing on Ezlo and himself. It was a huge relief to both Ezlo and Link, the freezing water keeping them the right temperature in this horribly hot place. Neither of them cared about being wet at this moment in time. Link put the empty bottle away.

Link carefully stepped on the floating rocks, moving from rock to rock as they floated across the lava, Link and Ezlo's weight making them sink just as Link kept on going. Ezlo stayed quiet- one misstep and the two of them would be nothing more than a pile of ashes! That was not a very pleasant thought, so Ezlo just worriedly wondered how in the world this kid wasn't freaking out like he was.

The simple fact was, Link wasn't paying attention. He was just going along the pathways, flipping rocks with the Cane of Paaci and not bothering about the lava, but he was still glad about Ezlo being quiet for once.

He soon reached a corridor going up into the deepest parts of the mines. This place was filled with rocks and holes that Link easily got around, while Ezlo decided to keep an eye out for monsters. Luckily, there weren't really any around here. That's when they reached another conveiniently-placed hole just in front of a whirlwind. Link used the Cane of Paaci to send the cane's magic into the hole, before jumping into it and being flipped into the air, straight into the whirlwind, the swirling air inflating Ezlo as the two glided down to the corridor far above the rubble.

Across the corridor, there was another whirlwind, which Link and Ezlo used to glide over the lava in the gigantic, overheated room. Link could feel it again, that rush of excitement mixed with fear, that powerful feeling he liked so much... Landing on a burning patch of land nearby, Link barely managed to avoid being burnt! Ezlo tried to blow the flames out, and it worked- a little. Link used a hole near a wall to get to the next whirlwind. Above the lava, the hot air keeping Ezlo expanded again and Link leaning left, right, forwards and backwards, occasionally spinning at a few whirlwinds, landing at a large 'island' in the centre of the room, stretching high above the liquid fire. In front of them was a very large chest. Link opened it, and inside was a massive key half the size of Link- who was very relived. Last time, the giant key had meant the end of the dungeon-like shrine. Now, it was the end of the dungeon-like mines. Link jumped directly back onto a floating stone, which took him back to where he'd entered the room.

Past there, Link found the giant door with the giant lock for the giant key. Unlocking the door with no difficulty whatsoever, he went through it. Inside was a massive hole leading straight down. Link walked over to the edge and looked into the lava lake surrounded by land below, eyes sparking, smiling an adreniline-fueled smile... Ezlo looked down- and one look on Link's face and not even _EZLO_ could not notice what that boy was planning now.

"Oh... No... DON'T EV- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Screeched Ezlo just as Link leaped over the edge, taking a deep breath on the way down, and the world, to Link, seemed to be shaking, moving, all around him as he used Ezlo as a parachute, landing right in front of the lava lake- face-to-face with a rather cross-looking lava-dragon, it's head the size of Link and the rest of its body proportionally large, which had a long, white, blue and red neck reaching out of the lava, very sharp teeth, and a spiky, rocky shell over its humped back which protected a tough-looking amber on the top. Link and Ezlo looked at the monster, a completely blank look on their respective faces. The monster roared in said faces, loud enough so that the entire room shook, and Link had to grab Ezlo's rim to stop him flying away. The monster's breath smelled like nothing, as if it wasn't really there.

 **"I _TOLD_ YOU THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA! _LISTEN_ NEXT TIME, WON'T YOU BOY?!"**

Link found it hard _not_ to listen when Ezlo was yelling louder than the monster's continuous roaring directly above his ears. Link vaguely wondered if extremely noisy hats could make you deaf. He then remembered he was stuck in a room with a non-friendly and non-nice monster the size of his house and sensibly tried to run away, not bothering to screech because one, Ezlo was screeching and two, there was nobody around to hear Link's hypothetical screeching. The monster opened its mouth, leaping, uncontrollable flames bursting from the depth of its body and flaming several places near Link- setting the back of said boy's tunic on fire. Link suddenly panicked, running every which way and trying to find a bottle of water from his bag, Ezlo stoping his useless screeching and starting his somewhat useful blowing on the fire. Link managed to find the watering can and sprinkled it all over the fire, putting it back once the fire was out and continuing to run around dodging all the fire at the same time as trying to figure out what to do. Ezlo noticed that the monster's rocky shell was rather loose...

"USE THE CANE, BOY! USE THE CANE!" screeched Ezlo at the top of his voice. Link instantly drew the Cane of Paaci and shot it right at the monster- but it hit its head, not its shell, and nothing happened except for the monster to start shooting fire again. "THE SHELL!" howled Ezlo, "USE IT ON THE SHELL!" Link got the idea and kept on running, shooting the magic out of the cane and onto the monster's shell. The shell flipped over, the sharp spikes suddenly breaking on the monster's weaker back. It roared again and its neck and head collapsed onto the edge of the lava, creating a bridge for Link to run across.

He got the idea and ran across to its back, before smashing, slicing and stabbing the amber on its back as much as possible. Cracks spread out across it, and the monster began to sink into the lava. Link, holding the Cane of Paaci in his right hand and his sword on his left, ran as fast as he could back across the monster's huge neck and leapt from its head, just about _not_ burning to a crisp. Ezlo gulped. Link's mind drifted, and again he saw the world from a third eye, seeing what he _should_ do vs what he'd _actually_ do. He then changed the _actually_ into the _should_.

So to Ezlo's great surprise, Link ran to the edge of the room just as the lava lake grew at an alarming speed and rubble fell from the sky. It was as if Link could tell where each individual rock was going to fall, Ezlo noticed. The rocks broke to pieces as they landed all around the boy and the hat.

"Ahhhh! Watch your feet!" yelled Ezlo, "Such an inhospitable monster this is!" He wasn't helping much.

After a couple of minutes, the rubble calmed down and the lava lake went back to its original size- and the monster, its shell fully re-formed, burst from the lava, glowing red with some sort of protective heat as it blasted continuous flames at Link, who ran around it. The fire even set some of the rubble on fire! How was that even _possible_?! He attempted to blast its shell with the Cane of Paaci again, but the red-heat-barrier stopped it from working.

Once the monster cooled down, Link managed to make its shell flip over again, and once again Link ran across its neck and sliced, slashed and stabbed the amber, this time succeeding in smashing it. He ran off the monster as fast as his legs could run just before it threw its head in the air and gave out one, long roar, before exploding in a massive, great big POOF, similar to that massive slime thing from Deepwood Shrine.

With the monster gone, the temperature in the entire room dropped as something red was propelled into the high roof of the cave, and the lava hardened into -somewhat lumpy- stone.

Link and Ezlo watched the element gently float down from the sky, and from it they felt great warmth and even greater light, holding such uncontrollable, passionate flames which could both sear the skies and hide deep within the heart. Link carefully picked the element up.

"Flames bring light to darkness and warmth to all..." said Ezlo, once again filled with awe at the element's majestic power, "the Fire Element is the embodiment of that power..."

A portal appeared, and Link stepped into it. A second later, they were back outside the mines and in the fresh, cool air of Mount Crenel in the early evening, after all, Ezlo _had_ woken Link up early today.

"Oh, that was hot! So hot I thought my fibres would catch fire! Ah, but its over now!" sighed Ezlo in relief, "I suppose we should go back and speak to Melari." Link nodded and went over to the magic amplifier, Ezlo shrinking them to minish size.

When they got down to Melari, Link saw that the sword was fixed, and more sacred-looking than ever. "Wow! That was fast work! But not so fast that I didn't finish your sword!" announced Melari, grinning from pointy ear to pointy ear, "Here, take a look! I call this new blade the White Sword!" Link and Ezlo could both see why. Its blade was a pure white that seemed to glow with the faded echoes of the colour of everything, sparkling with light, and its handle gleamed citrine-jade, though it held sparks of deepest sapphire, fiercest ruby and brightest amethyst within it too. It truly was a beautiful blade, and was clearly extremely, deadly sharp. Link picked it up, extremely carefully, by its flawless handle and put it in his bag. The room seemed just that little bit dimmer.

"Once you infuse it with the power of the elements, it will become a sacred blade!" explained Melari, "The forest elder no doubt told you about this part, but... if you want to infuse the blade, you must go to the elemental sanctuary. The sanctuary is a strange realm, trapped within two worlds. It is the bridge between The Minish World and The Human World. The doorway to the sanctuary only opens once every hundred years! You'll find the door within Hyrule Castle. Once the blade has been filled with the power of the four elements, you should be able to break the curse on your princess. I know you can do it. After all, you made short work out of that human mine. Let me tell you about a shortcut you can use to get down the mountain. You'll find it right infront of the entrance to the mine you just explored. Just follow that, and you'll be down in no time. Good luck!"

"Thank you for all your help. We are very grateful." thanked Ezlo, "Well, let's get going, Boy! You don't want to keep your grandpa waiting!"

Of course not! Link wouldn't want him to be worried and cross at everybody for too long. Link ran right outside, growing before getting a good hold on Ezlo before heading down the mountain at top speed, ignoring all the monsters which had come back again. After all, true monsters could never really be killed. They would always re-form somewhere else, such was why the hero had sealed them in that chest in the first place!

When Link got tired and slowed down back at Trilby Highlands, he saw a violet-lilac stone in the sandy pathway. He stopped and picked it up, dusting it off a little bit. It was the left half of a violet-lilac kinstone. Kinstones were usually green, blue, and very rarely red, but Link had never even heard of a purple one. All kinstones had a feeling attached to them, but the feeling coming from this one was... a familiar _loneliness_ , in fact, it was _Vaati's_ loneliness!

Ezlo took one look at that kinstone and instantly realised just _what_ that particular kinstone was! The minish made kinstones back in their world, and now Ezlo knew where the mystical stones went when they were fused in The Minish World. Minish everywhere used to believe that they simply flew to the sky then exploded, before a researcher known as Paaci discovered that they didn't _explode_ , but _travelled_ , and now Ezlo knew where they went- The Human World. This kinstone alone was proof!

 _"Come on, Boy! We're making kinstones today, and you're putting the emotion in! Remember, kinstones change colour depending on what emotions you infuse them with."_

 _"That sounds fun, but who do you think would fuse with me?"_

 _Ezlo hadn't quite heard his ten-year-old apprentice's slightly lower tone of voice._

 _"Well, I'll fuse with you! Now, come on, Boy!"_

 _He'd looked a bit disappointed with Ezlo's answer, now that Ezlo looked back a bit. Had been hoping for something else?_

 _Ezlo and Vaati mixed the simple recipe in a large bowl, and when the kinstone halves were done, they were violet-lilac._

 _"Purple? How unique!" Ezlo had commentated._

 _"Different..." Vaati had whispered._

 _"Well, let's fuse, my boy!"_

 _They did. And now..._

...here was the left half of that very same kinstone, right there in Link's palm. He seemed intrigued by it for some reason. Perhaps because it was purple? The boy then put it away extremely carefully, a soft little smile on his face.

After that, as the sun was really setting, Link went back though Hyrule Town and found another explosing stone along the way.

 _"Holder of the sacred powers, we grant you the power of wind..."_ Whispered the voice of the stone again before exploding to reveal another one of those symbols.

"Hey! That stone marker exploded! And there's another one of those symbols!" Exclaimed Ezlo, "...You know, no matter how many times that happens, it still rattles me." Link thought it was funny that the hat had said exactly the same thing as earlier that morning. He then went through North Hyrule Field, and to Hyrule Castle. "Are you sure I look alright?" asked Ezlo, "I never know what to wear for formal occasions..."

"Y-You're a hat." pointed out Link, going inside the castle while Ezlo processed that the kid was right. Somehow. It was like he was saying a lot of things at once... How bizarre. Ezlo remembered the way to the sanctuary because that was where he'd come in, so he jumped in front of Link and called,

"HEY BOY! Follow me! I know where the elemental sanctuary is!" Link followed Ezlo to the courtyard at the centre of Hyrule Castle's underground floor one, where Ezlo pointed out a huge, glowing doorway at the end of it. "Look! See how that doorway glows, Link? That is the door that leads to the sanctuary! Nobody in the castle seems to see it but you and me... let's go! QUICKLY! It's getting late!"

Link could only gasp at the beauty of the crystal-lined hallway. The large crystals shone with light, which reflected off the emerald flooring and the jade-diamond-crystal walls. Through a large doorway, which closed behind them, were four statues of four faceless heroes, holding their swords up almost like an archway. Beyond them was the pedestal for the sacred sword, and in the four corners of the area were the four cylindrcal pedestals for the four elements. All of this was carved in a strange, ever-changing material which was every shade of blue at once... yet not blue at all, which neither Link nor Ezlo recognised.

"This is the elemental sanctuary! Then... this is where we can infuse your blade with the power of the elements... Yes, there seems to be a pedestal for your sword right in the middle there." observed Ezlo.

Link went to the sword pedestal, and placed the White Sword inside of it. As he did, the Earth Element and the Fire Element floated out of his bag, and flew to the pedestal behind Link's right, and the pedestal behind Link's left respectively. A beam of amethyst light came from the Earth Element, and a beam of ruby light came from the Fire Element, both beams directed straight onto the White Sword.

As the beams hit the White Sword, the handle seemed to glow a brilliant gold, brighter than the sun, and the blade seemed to glow the very purest moonlight white with sacred power. Next, the handle of the sword turned brightest amethyst, then fiercest ruby. The beams faded, and Link drew the sword, holding it up to the roof of the sanctuary. "The power of Earth and the power of Fire have infused with your blade!" announced Ezlo.

There was a bit of shaking, and when Link turned around to look, a wall with ancient writing on it was blocking a passage leading deeper into the sanctuary. It was written in an ancient dialect of minish that Link couldn't read. Luckily, Ezlo could.

"Hmm-hmm... Let's see if I can't read that tablet for you..." said Ezlo, "'Fill your sword with power and walk over the glowing tile...' Hmm... Perhaps it refers to those flashing spots on the floor around you." Link understood. Those multicoloured squares were similar to an ancient power he'd read about in 'Legends of the Picori'. "Well, what are you waiting for? Try it, Link!"

Link focused his power into the sword and walked across the tiles. When he did, a ghostly clone of himself appeared for a split second. Ezlo noticed this power- one that could reveal one's personality by splitting oneself...

"Whoa! You just split in two! So this is the power of the White Sword! I guess you can double yourself anytime you see those panels..."

Ezlo was no fool. He _knew_ that it took a lot of magic power to handle such a magic. For Link to be able to properly use such magic and still be intact... it was nearly impossible alone. The tiles helped, but they activate it, not hone it. Ezlo had not lent Link his power as he was greatly handicapped right now... Someone was there... perhaps the ghost?

Link had felt it- a presence from his heart which had allowed him to wield this great magic, a certain someone who had lent him their power from the moment Link had split... Link used some other panels in the room to press two buttons at once, open the door, and leave the way he came in. The clone quickly disappeared.

After that, Link headed straight out of the castle, running as fast as he could -so fast he could barely see where he was going- and holding onto Ezlo tightly. He ran that fast through North Hyrule Field for a second before-

"YOWCH! Look where you're going, kid!" grumbled a very annoyed, very familiar voice. Quick as a snap, Link clamped Elo's beak shut and held him behind his back so the very familiar person, who was getting up and brushing his cloak down, wouldn't see him. Link looked somewhere near his eye.

Standing right there...

was Vaati.


	10. Chapter 10: Kindness and Rage

**If I stick with this, the schedule will change to two chapters every four weeks. I'm not sure what would be better to do- the original way or this way. What do you think? So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _In the extremely HOT Cave of Fire, Ezlo taught Link all about the five primary magics, and a bit about gifts. Somehow, there was something about Link which made him wonder if some of his theories were REALLY Crazy Theorist Talking. Meanwhile, Link enjoyed learning about magic! During a fight with some metal-spike-slime monsters, he felt an odd presence guiding him from his heart, and Ezlo saw his left eye turn electric-blue. What could that mean? During lunch, Link and Ezlo came up with plans for what they'd do if they ran into Vaati. Ezlo's plan was to tell him off, then apologise, then try to get Vaati to apologise to Link and Zelda, and go home. Link's plan was to figure out how to help Vaati out of 'the problem' -whatever that meant- and help Ezlo feel better in the process. Ezlo also_ _thought about the ghost some more. When they got back, Melari had fixed the Picori Blade- now called the White Sword, and along the way to the elemental_ _sanctuary, Link found a violet-lilac kinstone, and there, he felt the presence once more. Just outside, Link literally ran into Vaati..._

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Kindness and _Rage_**

Vaati woke up bright and early in Goron's Cave. The plan was all set- he'd teleport straight to the castle after saying goodbye to the gorons. Just before he could, Rhinestone squealed, "Good morning, Goro-Vaati! Would you like to come with me for us gorons' find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style? After everything you did to help us all out, I think you deserve to come along, goro!"

Vaati opened his mouth to say 'no, I'm busy' but something stopped him. I _was_ very nice of her to ask him to come along... and it felt nice to be wanted to come along! Somehow, Vaati simply couldn't make himself say no. _(Besides,)_ he thought, _(the King isn't going anywhere when there's someone like ME running around.)_ Wait... had he just thought that? "Yes. I'll come along." replied Vaati to Rhinestone, a smile appearing on his face. The pink goron smiled right back.

"You look so different with a smile, goro!" chattered Rhinestone on the way out of the cave.

"Really?" asked a small voice.

"Yeah, goro!" replied Rhinestone, "Let's go, Goro-Vaati!"

Vaati followed her out of the cave, still smiling. This was the first time he'd ever been invited to anything in his life. Outside, all of the other five gorons were standing outside, chatting. Granite looked over at Vaati and Rhinestone.

"Now that everybody's here, goro..." he announced as the others stopped talking, "Let's figure out the route! Does anybody have a map, goro?"

"I've got one." said Vaati, handing it to him. Granite opened it, and picked up a thin piece of chalk. Everyone leaned over to see where the find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style would take them... Granite chalked down the route on Vaati's map. It would take them to a few smaller caves around North Hyrue Field, then they would reach the 'eat lunch' spot in Trilby Highlands, picking up Limestone along the way. After that, they would circle down to South Hyrule Field and check out that cave Basalt found earlier, before going back round to Goron's Cave for 'tasty rock dessert'. Vaati knew there would be plenty of places for _him_ to get food too, and as a bonus he could try and find more clues to the light force as he tailed along.

Everybody agreed on that plan, so they all followed Granite out of the cave and towards North Hyrule Field. Just behind Granite was Basalt chatting about things, just behind him were Andesite and Rhinestone arguing, just behind them was Obsidian coming up with new ways to say 'goro' and just behind her were Tuff and Vaati.

"Did you know, Andesite tried to keep a diary. Then he broke it. Rhinestone fixed it and tried to keep it herself... but then _she_ broke it too, goro! Oh! Right, to keep a diary too, goro?" Tuff asked, "So, why do you keep a diary, goro?"

"It used to be like explaining things to someone who'd listen," explained Vaati, "but now it's more for keeping memories safe, so you'll never forget. And once you're in whatever afterlife, somebody might read it, and understand your pint of view."

"That's cool, goro!" replied Tuff, "But I think I'd break a diary, goro."

It wasn't long before they reached North Hyrule Field and split up to do the food gathering. Vaati wandered around, looking at the flowers and generally searching around. It was peaceful, in a way. Vaati just picked a lot of herbs and berries that he liked to eat, using the bottle to get a good amount of berry juice. When he had gotten enough, he met the gorons at the north entrance of Hyrule Town.

 _(Going into Hyrule Town may turn out to be a bad idea...)_ thought Vaati, _(but I can blend in with the gorons and fade to invisibility from time to time- that should be easy enough.)_

"All right, goro, is everyone here?" asked Granite.

"YES, goro!" hollered Obsidian.

"Yep- I've counted, goro." added Basalt.

"Okay, now let's continue, goro!" announced Rhinestone.

Vaati thought this was getting interesting. Just like before, there was no sign of the light force in North Hyrule Field, but for all he knew the gorons were leading him right to it. Besides... so far he was enjoying himself. Everything felt peaceful, and... warm. Also just like before, it was a very bright and sunny day indeed.

Sure enough, people could not believe their eyes when they saw the six gorons walking through town, all with a large number of rocks in their arms, and nobody saw Vaati amongst the already unusual group. Everybody just stayed away from them and continued their business around town.

In the centre of Hyrule Town, the woman from the grand drawing was was selling fruits while arguing with the man-with-the-fuzzy-deep-green-hair, who was in the stall just below her selling vegetables, over the the health benefits of fruit over vegetables- though the vegetable guy was selling tomatoes and the fat woman wasn't. At the bottom-left stall, a strange, thin guy was selling picolyte in bottles. Vaati couldn't help but be annoyed at that guy's ignorance- picolyte in that pure form could be very dangerous! It was much safer if mixed with the right medicines... In the stall above that man's stall, Limestone was selling kinstone pieces.

"Hi, Goro-Limestone!" greeted Granite, "Thanks to Goro-Vaati, we managed to fix the cave! We've started our find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style, would you like to come too, goro?"

Upon hearing the name 'Vaati', a few people looked at them in shock- but Vaati just became invisible for a moment so nobody would see him.

"That sounds fun, goro!" exclaimed Limestone, "I'll come!"

Limestone packed away his stuff and put a 'reserved' sign on his stall before following the rest of the gorons and Vaati out the west entrance of Hyrule Town, much to the guard's surprise. Andesite hung back a bit to talk to Limestone. Vaati was just in front of them.

"I couldn't get the swamp weed, goro. I got stuck in the swamp," Andesite was explaining, "but luckily, Goro-Vaati saved me, goro!"

"How nice of him, goro!" replied Limestone, "And don't worry- I can do without them, goro. Thanks for helping, Goro-Andesite!"

"No problem, goro! A goron will always help a friend, goro!" said Andesite, smiling (though Vaati didn't see that).

... A friend, huh? What was friendship, really? An alliance of some sort, right? That was what he'd originally thought... and, he'd decided, that was all it would ever be from _then_ on.

The 'eat lunch' spot turned out to be a grassy area near a nice little stream. Everybody helped clear out the monsters before sitting down and sharing out lunch. The gorons were all eating rocks, and Limestone even had something Vaati could eat, as well as some iron to share with the other gorons, in that massive bag of his.

Not many people in Hyrule had ever experienced a lunch like this. All seven gorons were trading rocks and stories, talking over each other, swapping places and sometimes even going around chomping whatever rock was nearby. Vaati had certainly never seen anything of the like of this before.

"What about you, goro?" asked Tuff to Vaati, "Could you tell me about some of your adventures, goro?"

"Well, I had quite the adventure tracking all of you gorons down..." began Vaati, continuing to describe how he'd found them all, describing most of the details, leaving only his most specific intentions out.

"Wow, goro! What an adventure, and all in _two_ days, goro?! How awesome, goro!" chattered Basalt, who happened to be sitting next to Vaati as well.

"I'll tell you a story now, Goro-Vaati!" added Obsidian, who was walking just behind where Vaati was sitting and had also overheard his story. She went on to talk about lands far beyond Mount Crenel and of tasty, exotic rocks and iron.

It was all very merry, and it didn't stop until all the food was either eaten or stored for later.

"Mmm... That was great, goro!" commentated Tuff.

"I know, goro!" announced Obsidian over the others, "Let's all give Goro-Vaati a big thank you from us for helping us all get together again, goro!"

"And for saving me from sinking, goro!" added Andesite,

"And for helping me hone my teaching-swimming skills!" hollered Rhinestone,

"And for helping me catch up with everybody after so long." finished Limestone.

"One... Two... Three...

Thanks, Goro-Vaati!"

All seven gorons thanked at the same time. Vaati smiled warmly, though something inside wondered if he really deserved all this thanks. "You're welcome." he replied.

"...You _do_ look happier with a smile, goro!" said Granite.

"I do?" asked Vaati.

"Definitely, goro!" added Andesite, "Goro-Rhinestone was right for once, goro!"

"HEY, GO-RO! I _told_ you you'd break that diary, didn't I, goro?" pointed out Rhinestone, "...and that in-edible metal? And your _TOOTH_?!"

...Soon the two were bickering again and while Limestone calmed them down, they all continued through Western Wood, along the path that Granite had drawn on Vaati's map.

All of this... Vaati was beginning to forget to search for the light force. Only a little. He hid among the gorons again as they all passed Smith's house. This time, nothing happened, luckily for Vaati.

The group quickly reached that cave Basalt had found. Vaati could certainly see why it was so interesting now. The place was filled with rocks of all sorts, gems, crystals, and even some of the rarest metals around, along with iron and some stronger variations of it and many minerals. They were embedded in the walls, the floor, the roof and everywhere else. It was somewhat dark, but the beams of light shone everywhere, creating some sort of spectacular illusion which seemed to glow all the colours at once.

"Wow, goro, how awesome!" gasped Obsidian.

"What a buffet, goro!" added Tuff.

"This place... really is pretty..." murmured Vaati, _(...but do the gorons seriously have a big enough appetite to STILL eat after that giant lunch?!)_

They went deeper in, everyone looking at everything, until the cave widened into a massive chamber of wonderful, rare gems of... of...

 _("...Glitteryness!")_ gasped the little voice in Vaati's head in awe.

 _("...Powerful magic!")_ gasped the dark voice in Vaati's head in anticipation.

 _("...Very useful rarities!")_ gasped the logical voice in Vaati's head in interest.

Vaati shook his head at all of those, smiling slightly. "...Illusion." he finished, looking around at everywhere, where the gorons had already split up and started gathering rocks, gems, etc. A deep instinct of his was telling him that this sort of place was too good to be true. There _had_ to be a trap somewhere or it would all have been gone long before he was born. Sure enough, Vaati quickly found a sign with a warning written on it-

'Take only what you truly require... for greed will be your downfall.'

And then, scribbled at the bottom of the mystic message-

'And it would serve you right, too!' with a face sticking its cartoon tongue out next to it.

Vaati stared at the sign a little longer before noticing a little violet glimmer at the corner of his eye. He turned around and picked it up. His eye widened just that little bit. How... How in the world had _this_ gotten here?!

 _"Come on, Boy!_ _We're making kinstones today, and you're putting the emotion in! Remember, kinstones change colour depending on what emotions you infuse them with."_

 _"That sounds fun, but who do you think would fuse with me?"_

 _Nobody, that was who. Oh, he'd tried. But not even he would fuse kinstones. Now that present Vaati thought about it, it was like a premonition._

 _"Well, I'll fuse with you! Now, come on, Boy!"_

...right. Nobody but Ezlo...

 _Ezlo and Vaati mixed the simple recipe in a large bowl, and when the kinstone halves were done, they were violet-lilac._

 _"Purple? How unique!" Ezlo had commentated._

 _"Different..." Ten-year-old Vaati had whispered._

That word... heh. Maybe he could have been a little more optimistic.

 _"Well, let's fuse, my boy!"_

 _They did, but something hadn't felt quite right, as if the halves didn't quite fit, almost like he was fusing with the wrong person._

 _And now..._

...Here was the right half of that very same kinstone now, right there in his palm. He wondered where the other half was, and closed his hand around it, wondering how it had somehow gotten to The Human World three years before him, and what had made it grow like that.

Most kinstones were made with friendship or leadership (green), others were made with innocence or knowledge (blue), and very rarely was a kinstone made with anger or regret (red). The reason, Vaati knew now, that his kinstone had been purple was because their emotion was loneliness. It had just poured out, because it was one that Vaati actually understood, in a way. In fact, he'd once read something about them being made with guilt, too... though it had never actually happened, until way back then.

That's when he looked over to the other gorons and saw that they were following his example in picking things up. Too many things, in fact!

"WAIT! STOP! THIS IS A _TRAP_!" Howled Vaati just as the entire room shook. Thanks to the warning, all the gorons and Vaati made it out safely with their souvenirs as the cave was blocked up behind them. Vaati wondered if everyone was okay. He also wondered why his kinstone made him feel as if the other half was coming for it soon...

"Is everyone here, goro?" asked Limestone.

Everyone quickly checked, and yes, they were all fine.

"Wow... What excitement, goro!" commentated Basalt, "Sorry about the danger, Goro-Everyone..."

"Aw, that's no problem, goro!" laughed Tuff, patting Basalt on the back, "That was the best adventure _I've_ had in years, goro!"

The other gorons agreed with him, and soon the whole gaggle was walking right back towards Goron's Cave. At the south entrance to Hyrule Town, Limestone said goodbye and thanked Basalt for the adventure before leaving.

On the rest of the way back, Vaati took out his pencil and diary so he could write in it.

'To whoever reads this thing,

The gorons -namely, Rhinestone- invited me to their 'find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style'. It felt... nice to be wanted to come along. I couldn't say no, though I tried. Besides, the king isn't going anywhere. As the name suggests, first we found food in North Hyrule Field, then we ate it in Trilby Hilands after picking Limestone up. Never before have I seen anything like it! They traded rocks -gorons eat rocks-, places, and stories, walked all over the place, and they all talked over one another in some sort of randomness! After that, we all travelled into a cave Basalt found. It was beautiful, filled with every type of rock, metal, mineral, crystal, gem, etc you can think of, especially the rarest ones. So naturally, it was a trap. However, I did find the right half of the kinstone I made with Ezlo back when I was ten. I felt as if its other half were coming for it soon... I don't get it, but I'll keep it safe. Just in case...

-Vaati'

Suddenly, an emerald-citrine spark burst over Vaati's head, leaving a bit of emerald-citrine glitter which fell around him. From this, Vaati could tell that it was from a friendship-based kinsrone (leadership tends to be a darker green, usually forest-jade), but now it had actually exploded rather than travelled.

Quite suddenly, a creepy, very short, guy wearing a tight green body-suit and who had a comparatively large nose fell from the sky, grabbing - a very shocked- Vaati's diary, leaving rainbow-coloured confetti everywhere.

"Tingle, Tingle kooloo-limpah!" he shouted, running off.

Vaati yelled, "GIVE THAT BACK!" and ran after him, filling with **_rage_**...

"Goro-Vaati needs help!" observed Obsidian.

"Let's all go get that diary back, goro!" added Granite.

The gorons all curled up into boulder-like balls of rock and rolled after the odd green guy, three on either side of Vaati, almost like a V if one watched them from the air, though the gorons were way away from Vaati so far...

"You can't catch Tingle!" shouted the guy- Tingle, Vaati assumed -over his shoulder.

Vaati rushed after Tingle, filled with a cold, emotionless version of that **_rage_**. It was as if he could feel nothing and see only through logical eyes. His calculations were going at three-six per second as he kept his one working eye on Tingle, running much faster than usually possible thanks to magic. Behind him, the gorons were catching up, and they were all rolling full-speed at Tingle, with Vaati leading the charge.

Vaati knew not to lose his patience- _("Tingle's being annoying so I'll tire myself out.")_ stated the calculative voice and Vaati in his mind. Looking back over his shoulder, Tingle panicked as he saw Vaati and the six gorons all heading straight towards him so he threw several bunches of banana skins behind him, directly towards Vaati.

To said sorcerer, everything was going slower than usual. He was seeing from a 'third eye', one watching the chase from just above them... He could almost see himself... _("Right-left-s_ _pin-step-right-left-jump-turn and slide._ ")

...Vaati slid on a banana peel and spun into the air, the element catching him and propelling him towards Tingle faster than the annoying guy could run, so he pulled a string attached to his suit, making a huge red balloon which was larger than Tingle lift him into the air- where Vaati's winds pushed him away. _("Momentum, no coordination and density can be used to the advantage.")_

However, Vaati's eye was everywhere. He could see the uncoordinated gorons slip on the banana peels all around him, sending them all into the air, where Andesite and Granite slipped on the bananas and crashed into each other directly in front of Tingle- forcing him to stop and ultimately allowing Vaati to get closer to him as the two slammed into each other and fell to the ground, rubbing their heads but totally unharmed, out of the chase.

Meanwhile, the other gorons were flying across the sky by their momentum and partly by Vaati's winds, and during that split second where Granite crashed into Andesite, Vaati ducked as Tuff was sent spinning over his head- and straight through Tingle's ballon, bursting it instantly, and continued through the air just as Tingle cried, "Tingle won't be caught! Tingle-Tingle-kooloo-limpah!" and threw rainbow confetti at Vaati's face, but he'd seen it coming and lightly dropped to the ground a millisecond after Tingle, the three remaining gorons dramatically crashing to the ground in a slightly curved line just behind him a millisecond after that.

Just as they were all in their formation of Tingle being chased by Vaati with the remaining three gorons right behind him- _("What goes up must come down.")_ Tuff crashed downwards and rammed into Tingle, who was sent flying, and Vaati leaped into the air after him. Back on the ground, Tuff uncurled, a little dizzy but perfectly okay, out of the chase too as the last three gorons swivelled around him, trying to keep up with Vaati.

Up in the air, _("The arc of flying shall end with a thump, so I can catch Tingle if I go directly under the landing arc.")_ , but that plan was ruined when Tingle pulled anther string- releasing another large red ballon, this time with a propellor on the back. Tingle and Vaati shot forward, now passing directly over South Hyrule Field, heading east. Tingle yelled,

"This book shall be the key to Tingle becoming a great fairy!"

Vaati shouted after him, "THAT'S MY DIARY! GIVE IT BACK!", before attempting to barrel into him- unfortunately, Tingle dodged, forcing Vaati to double back, _("Use a double-back to the advantage and he'll be off-course.")_ but he sent tiny, counter-clockwise spinning, tornadoes after Tingle to try and force him towards himself. Unfortunately, Tingle was spun like a top, and the ballon burst, so Tingle was sent crashing directly downwards into Hyrule's one and only river. He held Vaati's diary far over his head, so luckily it wasn't ruined.

 _("Now I will go for the final swoop!")_

Vaati dropped out of the sky and the winds caught him as he grabbed his diary back, the momentum sending him up and east again- with Tingle hanging onto Vaati's cloak. Vaati felt it- the full, cold, unnatural **_rage_** that flowed through him...

It was then, and only then, that Tingle realised he'd messed with the wrong sorcerer.

"To stone with you." Hissed Vaati.

Vaati put his book away, using the winds to hold Tingle, who was now a stone statue. Vaati looked at him and smirked. _("He's much nicer as a statue.")_ said both Vaati and the malevolent voice. An idea popped into Vaati's head and his smirk grew wider. Using the winds, he took Tingle to above the middle of Lake Hylia- and dropped him in. It felt all too satisfying to hear that splash. Vaati quietly laughed to himself and teleported right back to Goron's Cave, where the six gorons had all met up again.

"Did you get it back, goro?" asked Obsidian.

"Yes." replied Vaati, "Now I'll have to go. See you all later."

With that, he teleported away to North Hyrule Field. He planned to camp there for the night so he could actually rest properly and so nothing would get in the way this time, still edgy thanks to Tingle.

* * *

The gorons stared at where Vaati had just been.

"Is it just me, goro, or was his pupil aqua-green for a moment?" asked Rhinestone.

"Yes, goro, it was obvious, goro." replied Andesite.

* * *

Once he was there, some kid ran straight into him!

"YOWCH! Watch where you're going, kid!" grumbled Vaati- then he looked at just who was standing there, one hand reaching backwards. Of all the people to literally run into him...

Standing right there...

was Link.


	11. Chapter 11: A Gesture of Friendship

**Surprise! Quick chapter! I think it's because they've been shorter than usual recently. Oh well. Here it is... the big meeting between Link, Ezlo and Vaati! What will happen? Is this where the adventure ends? ...Heh... Time to find out! So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Vaati was all prepared to go to Hyrule Castle, but was instead invited by Rhinestone to the gorons' 'find-lunch-and-eat-it-goron-reunion-style. The whole thing lived up to its name as Vaati and the gorons found lunch in Hyrule Field, picked up Limestone along the way to Trilby Highlands, and ate lunch in Trilby Highlands. Vaati reflected on his opinions on friendship- wasn't that... an alliance of some sort? Regardless, he'd never experienced anything like it before and actually had... fun! Inside a cave full of rarities that Basalt found, Vaati found the right half of that violet-lilac kinstone he'd made with Ezlo three years ago. Unfortunately, on the last stretch of the 'lunch trip', Tingle dropped in out of nowhere thanks to a spark of emerald-citrine and stole Vaati's diary! During the chase, Vaati and the calculative voice in his head seemed to be one and the same, and his eye's pupil was even aqua-green for a moment, along with that **rage**. Once Vaati turned Tingle into stone and dropped him in Lake Hylia, he said bye to the gorons and headed straight to North Hyrule Field, where LINK of all people literally ran into him..._

* * *

 **Chapter 11: A Gesture of Friendship**

Vaati and Link stared at one another for a second.

"S-sorry." apologised Link.

"..." Vaati just looked at the small boy for a moment, a bit confused as to why Link would apologise for bumping into him when he'd turned Link's -friend?- into stone and released monsters all over Hyrule, "...Okay then." ...Was it just him or was that green hat wiggling? Strangely enough, the power of Earth was now out of his bag. Then Link's face broke into a large, innocent smile and he took a kinstone out of his kinstone bag- and not just any kinstone, but the left half of his violet-lilac kinstone. _Where_ in The Human World did he get that!? Vaati was lost for words. Carefully, Vaati drew out the other half of that kinstone, thinking that it was a joke or something.

 _"Will you fuse kinstones with me?"_

 _The minish walked away, as if Vaati wasn't there._

 _"Will you fuse kinstnes with me?"_

 _"I don't know... You'll probably curse me." The minish walked away._

 _"Will you fuse kinstones with me?"_

 _"I don't have any.", HE'D said. But HE had been lying, Vaati knew._

...So why was he trying now, when it could be all a lie? ...It didn't feel like one.

Link had guessed that Vaati had the other half of the kinstone because it was Vaati's, not anyone else's, loneliness coming from that stone. Link, feeling Vaati's mixed emotions of fear, curiosity and confusion, thought that a nice little gesture of friendship might help him feel better. He made sure to keep Ezlo from unintentionally messing things up.

Said hat was extremely frustrated, wiggling around and attempting to escape from Link's iron grip- naturally, it was no use. Ezlo gave up and just tried to listen to what was going on...

 _("Why would you want to fuse kinstones with me?")_ thought Vaati and the timid voice, his eye turning a more pink-ish shade of red and his pupil widening just that little bit. Link noticed this and looked into Vaati's eye. Something was different than it had been the first time... It was as if there was more than one Vaati.

 _Confusion. Curious Anxiety._ Went the first part.

 _Aggressiveness_. _Defensive Fear._ Went the second part.

 _Analysing. Near emotionlessness._ Went the third part.

The one right at the deepest level felt most like Vaati. Link felt it from himself too.

 _Hope._

Vaati, remembering last time, averted his eye as soon as he figured out what was happening. However, he could feel it- that odd, strange feeling he'd felt back at Lake Hylia when he'd figured out how to swim. What was it called again? Hope or something like that?

They fused kinstones... and this time, they seemed to fit, like they were meant to go together. Vaati smiled wryly. _(He's left-handed.)_ he thought. The wry smile turned into a soft one, a little one. The kinstone formed into a violet-lilac spark and hovered in the air, like a tiny purple star, releasing glimmers of the very purest magic glittering down to Vaati, Link and Ezlo. Link, mesmerised by the glttering, glimmering spark of magic, dropped his hold on Ezlo, who flipped back up and figured out what had happened very quickly.

For a very rare moment, there was just a kid called Link, a kid called Vaati and a hat called Ezlo, nothing more, no-one more...

Until Vaati turned his head to say something and spotted Ezlo. That boy's hat was Ezlo!? Ezlo turned his head and saw Vaati, remembering his earlier plan all at once. Vaati spoke, the bitterness from his past all coming together at once- Ezlo was the embodiment of his bad memories.

Link felt Vaati's bitterness and growing anger... It was like the parts of Vaati all came together under one emotional pain. Separate to all of that was a hint of that _**rage**_. Something in his heart was naturally opposed to this _**rage**_ , wanted to fight it. He felt Ezlo's guilt and idea. Vaati's eye went back to its normal blood-red and his pupil shrank again. Link's smile faded. He couldn't fix this now...

"Interesting. You're the very last person I expected to find here. And just as I was wondering about Link, I find my old master..."

"VAATI!" yelled Ezlo, planning on telling him off.

"And as always, you're dressed in... heh heh heh... the shabbiest of rags." _Malevolence._ Vaati's eye went a cold, hard, iridescent blood-red and narrowed... "My curses are not to be mocked. The one I cast on you is most powerful... No matter what power you wield, you will never break it."

Well, whatever plan Ezlo had was now out of the window.

"You haven't changed in the slightest. I should never have created that cap! It only fuelled your insane desires!" Yelled Ezlo.

 _("He was just the same as everyone else! Whatever made me think that... No. Not now!")_ said Vaati and all three voices in his mind. **_Rage_**. "You LIE!" shouted Vaati, "A hat with that much power is a spectacular creation! Thanks to you, I have gone from being a weak, pathetic, minuscule NOTHING to... The Sorcerer of Winds! You cannot stop me now, and I have YOU to thank for it!"

Vaati meant every word, every bitter thought behind it. _Insane?!_ Was that what Ezlo thought about him, about his goals? But then, what did Ezlo know about him? NEARLY NOTHING. He was drawn to the kinstone spark, and it was going somewhere. Vaati turned around to follow it.

Link was saddened by the feelings between Ezlo and Vaati, by that odd **_rage_** which felt like it shouldn't be there. It wasn't too late for either of them.

"W-wait..." said Link to Vaati.

Vaati stopped for a second. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about it made him want to say, _(Link... I apologise.)_ , though he didn't. If it wasn't so that turning Ezlo into stone would subsequently turn Link into stone, said minish-turned-hat would be at the bottom of Lake Hylia with Tingle right about now...

On the way out, Vaati turned the blades of grass around Link and Ezlo into huge, unbreakable boulders (this is a form of complex transformation magic involving atom transformation and shell-spaceing), making a wall between each of four conveniently-placed trees, and summoned a couple of those monsters he'd seen in Trilby Highlands to slow them down at the same time (this is called linking magic). All the monsters were so mindlessly stupid that Vaati was positive that beating them would be a piece of cake even for a ten-year old with a sword.

 _(Of course,)_ mused Vaati as he followed the kinstone over Hyrule Town, _(it helps to know how to USE it.)_

"VAAAAAAAAA-TIIIIIIIIII!" yelled Ezlo, "YOU ARE IN FOR THE TELLING-OFF OF A LIFETIME ONCE I GET AHOLD OF YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!" He'd lost all of his (very little amount of) patience. His chance... was gone.

Vaati half-turned over his shoulder to face him, his -still iridescent- eye seeming to flash blood red, "...I wonder if you are really _that_ ignorant." stated all of Vaati, feeling a twinge of pain before turning his face away and continuing to follow the knstone, but so softly and so far away that neither Link nor Ezlo ever heard him.

* * *

Thanks to Vaati, Link and Ezlo were now stuck between four trees with two huge, black, (unhygienic, Ezlo notices at this point with a sniff), pig-like monsterss on their hind legs, holding spears. Link looked at them. Then he pulled out a forging hammer from his bag.

The monsters rushed at Link with their -mainly wooden- spears, who promptly smashed them with the hammer. Ezlo just stared. Link looked at the monsters with a blank expression on his face. They roared. Link bonked them both on the head and they went 'poof'. The rocks 'poofed' back into grass at the same time thanks to the linking magic being broken. Ezlo just stared. _(That boy never runs out of surprises...)_ thought Ezlo, just staring. Then he remembered who put them in that situation in the first place. Ezlo jumped off of Link's head to look him in the eye, though Link didn't quite have eye contact for obvious reasons, it was close enough.

"That foul Vaati!" steamed Ezlo, "What could he be scheming now? Link... I feel like I owe you an explanation of what happened. You see, Vaati and I are both Minish. I was once a famous sage and a renowned Minish craftsman. Vaati was only a boy when I took him on to be my apprentice... and even younger when I first pulled him out of a flood-river. But... I don't know what happened. He just seemed... bitter, somehow. One day, Vaati took the hat I made for the humans-my pride and joy. It brought out the inner power of its wearer. He put it on without permission... and transformed, right before my eyes. Don't get me wrong, Boy, he was always purple and red with those odd markings under his eyes -yes, both eyes. It was like a one-eyed monster took hold of him when he put on that hat! Then he used a powerful merging spell on me, that's why I'm now a hat, and then he laughed and told me he was going to take the light force and then he left."

Ezlo paused to take a breath. Link looked at him. Ezlo continued, "You know the legends, of course. The gifts the picori gave the humans... What you call The Picori Blade was the first of those gifts. The second... well, you call it the Light Force, but it is a transferable source of limitless power. If Vaati were to get it now, the damage to himself would be devastating! I came to the world of Humans hoping to stop Vaati, and I met you in the woods. But it seems we won't be breaking the curse on me anytime soon. However, with the sacred blade, we can certainly restore Princess Zelda. I'm sorry. All that has happened is due to my pride. My folly. I must rely on you, and your power, until we've sorted out Vaati."

Like most people do, Ezlo had forgotten the kid was ten. However, it felt great to _tell_ someone these things... he usually kept up his public image.

Unknown to Ezlo, Link had figured out what he meant- to an extent. The simplified version was, 'Ezlo had been a terrible caretaker and a worse teacher, so Vaati set an impossible goal for himself, which caused all this trouble.'

"Well, Link, enough fairy tales! We must search for the next element!" announced Ezlo, hopping back on to Link's head. A small scuffle later, the two of them headed off to Link's grandpa's house. Link would wonder about his confession even after it was all over, but even then he'd understood, in his own quiet way.

"HEY!" yelled Ezlo, remembering something, "What made you want fuse kinstones with Vaati? He released monsters and turned your best friend into stone!"

"Th-that kinstone held V-Vaati's loneliness. I think he n-needs a friend, a t-true friend. I d-don't think he kn-knows what friendship is." Explained Link, speaking more than he usually did.

Ezlo didn't get it. The boy and the hat got through Hyrule Town and into Smith's house soon after that. It was late, and Link felt sleepy. He could almost hear Zelda's words vibrating through his head...

 _"Courage! That's what you need, Link! Courage!"_

Now, Link would finally take her advice. Link thought there was more to the nightmare than a dream. If Vaati was in it, and he'd been swept down a river and Ezlo saved him then maybe the rest of the dreams were real too! He would face it, face them right to the end.

With fear as the fuel for everything else, for such is what courage was.

* * *

Vaati was still following the kinstone. He thought it would lead him to the light force, or indeed, to somewhere important. Kinstones were meant to bring good fortune, after all. He followed it all the way to the top of Mount Crenel.

There, on the sunny side of Mount Crenel, the kinstone fell out of the sky and into Vaati's palm. Vaati was confused at first, but then he felt... tired. He looked out towards the night sky, looked out at the millions of stars scattered across the horizon...

 _(The view from up here... is beyond everything I've ever seen...)_ thought Vaati, looking at the stars, the full moon that glowed through the sky, out to the lands beyond Hyrule, the places covered with placid twilight. Out there, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Vaati looked down at the kinstone in his palm. Something inside felt... warm... when he remembered the look on Link's face when they'd fused, the innocent smile that held not a drop of fake-ness. A true, solid smile. But... Why? Why would Link show a so-called gesture of friendship to him?

Vaati stared at the view again. Despite his night-sight, he saw all the little parts of starshine bouncing of the hills of far away lands, bouncing of everything beyond Hyrule... Vaati felt inspired. His eye went a pinkish-red and his pupil grew just that little bit.

"I'd like to go there..." He and the timid voice said to the view, "But I have one goal to pass. One thing to find." A gentle breeze swirled around him, as if holding his hand. "I will find that light force, then I'll go there. I'll see what these people refuse to imagine..."

Power wasn't the answer to this. He could feel it, somehow. The moonlight glinted off the face of the kinstone- the four-leaf clover.

Vaati had got pulled into the water by Rhinestone...

Had understood Mira's determination for her sister's gift...

Had seen the joy between people at a lunch or two...

And...

Had fused two lonely kinstones together with Link...

They weren't lonely anymore. And... somehow... Vaati felt less lonely too. He could feel that warmth everyone seemed to understand... What was it? Vaati placed the kinstone gently into his cloak pocket. He lay down on the rocks, there and then... and slept.

In his dreams, Vaati was atop a cliff, staring into an infinite expanse of lands...Vaati saw a memory of a certain few gorons, a pink gini, a smiling boy, a couple of ghosts, a strong swordswoman, and...

A very old minish with a long white beard and long white hair and a topknot, wearing a green robe and holding a scary-looking bird staff.

Vaati saw the world in a new way that night. Link's gesture of friendship had help Vaati take a step into a new path, a different path than the one Destiny had prepared for him...

* * *

Link burst into his house. Grandpa Smith was sitting on a chair near the doorway with a bandage round his head. He was very grumpy- in fact, more grumpy than usual.

"What's wrong?" asked Ezlo.

"Well, while you two were off, I was making swords as usual when those soldiers came along looking for Vaati," Grumbled Smith, "and then, said sorcerer comes walking by, cool as you please, right nearby! So of course I point him out and those soldiers all go rushing at him but they're -unsurprisingly- no match for that guy, so I decide to deal with him myself, and he goes and beats me at my own specialty! The nerve of that kid! Then I go and wake up an hour later with this throbbing LUMP on my head! Link, if you see Vaati, remember to SCREAM, RUN AWAY and TELL SOMEONE- it's the most sensible course of action when it comes to bad people!"

Link looked up at Ezlo. Ezlo looked down at Link. Both looked back at Smith.

"So anyway, Link, you should go have a shower then go to bed. Ezlo, could you fill me in as to what happened up there? I really need to know..."

Link did. As he settled into bed, he closed his eyes and prepared to see that nightmare through to the end.

 _Darkness. Darkness, protecting the brothers like a cloak._ _Light. Light was coming, unweaving the cloak, searing away each thread, one by delicate one. Whoever Link was, he was worried for his one-year old brother. He was too young for this... not that they had a choice. The younger brother's red eyes flickered open to see the sunrise as magic pulsed through the older brother's tail..._

 _Fighting. Fighting, among those who'd taken supplies as a team. It wasn't enough. Never enough for everyone. Nobody trusted the others, so they all hit and ran. The two-year-old younger brother stared at the fighting, then asked,_ _"...Weren't we all supposed to be allies?"_

 _The older brother looked down at the younger one, feeling sad inside. His younger brother was caring, sensitive. Quite timid at times. (He doesn't deserve this...) Whoever Link was had thought._ _"Yes... but in the end, all that matters to everyone is living to see another night." The older brother explained."We're lucky, Vaati. We're lucky to have each other. Many of them have been alone since the beginning."_

 _The younger brother began to cry, and the older brother held him tightly..._

So the younger brother _was_ Vaati. One confusion solved. Link should have known he'd heard the purple sorcerer's name somewhere...

 _That. That was IT. A year later, when the brothers had found a place to stay, other twilight minish were attacking. Vaati had broken down, crying about the fighting for hardly any reason._

 _It was time for things to change. But before the older brother could say a word..._ _Water. Water. Lots of water, flooding a place that could have been home._

 _Screaming. Struggling. Pain._

 _Younger brother being whisked away, crying out for help, emotional pain too much for Link, whoever he was, to bear._

 _"Don't abandon me... Don't leave me behind! I can't lose you too, Va-"_

 _Drowning._

 _Cold. Cold. Why this cold, at the end of this daily nightmare?_

No-one woke him up. They let Link sleep. The cold was fading, the blackness still there.

"Is th-this cold d-death?" asked Link, actual Link, in the odd blackness.

"No." replied the older brother's voice within the darkness, "I think this is your subconscious. My name... is Vale."

* * *

Ezlo watched Link head upstairs before filling Mr. Smith in on what had happened to, on, and in Mount Crenel.

"Link WHAT?!" yelled Smith, "Flying over LAVA?! Fighting giant, flame breathing, monsters?! Getting _SICK_?! YOU TAUGHT HIM _MAGIC_?!" Ezlo gulped. Smith suddenly took a deep breath and became very serious. "That 'bad cold' up on Mount Crenel was no bad cold. It was an attack."

"Attack? Of WHAT?" asked Ezlo.

"Nobody knows! The doctors were all stumped years ago! We are both lucky the picori make excellent medicines... Look, Link knows how to use his medicines but after a bit of thinking, I decided you, as his travelling companion, ought to know about his medicines and attacks. Link's always been like this. He somehow manages to get very, very ill very, very quickly... The problem was, nobody knew what it was, only that Link had been born that way. Everybody thought he would die before the age of two, and he very nearly did. There was an accident involving snow just after his second birthday, and he was sleeping, waking up, then sleeping again two seconds later... when he was asleep no-one could wake him up. He was sleeping for longer and longer each day, and his parents, the king, the doctors and I were all very worried that he would never wake up. But one day, just as it seemed that Link really wouldn't ever wake up... a miracle happened. A bright blue light glowed from under his clothing, and a spark of black and white darted into it, I saw it! Then Link sat up, suddenly better! Every day he'd get better, but almost every night he'd toss and turn and call out in a strange voice... I think that's some side effects of the illness... He deprived himself of sleep, tried odd potions and did other things to try and get rid of whatever was causing it. He didn't even TELL anyone, except maybe Zelda. The hay fever is part of that illness, and if he's caught in rain, snow or any cold or wet condition... the attacks could come. They vary, but that's when he gets really, really ill if he doesn't take his medicines..."

Ezlo remembered those bottles and the spoon he'd seen in Link's bag. Now they made sense.

"If he gets hayfever, give him a pill from the C.H.S.M.S box, if he's sneezing, give him the blue bottle, if his face goes a funny colour use the green bottle, if he throws up use the red bottle, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, the purple bottle is for if he passes out. Just before he does, his face will go pure white and his eyes will go blank. It's ONLY for that, GOT IT!?"

"Yes. I understand." replied Ezlo, "I believe the picori will be able to help with this mysterious illness. Thank you for trusting me with that information." By now it was very, very late, and both Smith and Ezlo were extremely tired. They both went upstairs to the bed.

Smith was out like a light but Ezlo looked at Link tossing and turning in his sleep from the other side of the bed. Then Link, in his sleep, quite suddenly grabbed Ezlo and held him like he was a teddy bear or something! He was so tired that he just fell asleep without hearing Link's question...

"You're V-Vaati's brother, right?"...

* * *

...asked Link in the 'subconscious'.

Vale stepped out of the darkness. He was a deep-purple minish wearing torn, patched-up fabric and leaves. He had a swishing, feather-like tail which was light purple except for the tip, which was dark, blackberry-purple. His eyes were exactly the same shade of blood-red as Vaati's with white pupils, and he had black cross-birthmarks on each of his cheeks. He also had short, scruffy lilac hair like Vaati's but much shorter, and he wore no hat. Deep regret lingered around him, hope as well...

"Yes." replied Vale, "When you were much younger Link, you were going to die and I was going to disappear from existence. I followed Vaati to that village, where the old man helped him out. I saw what had happened to him and how people reacted to him over the years, so I had been searching for help with no success... but then a great, powerful spirit of long ago who resides deep in your heart let me in from across the boundaries of worlds, saving both you and me. I should explain that those dreams of yours are my memories... and the last one is when I died. Will you help me out? Will you please make sure Vaati doesn't go down the wrong path for me? I can't let him become what he is becoming..."

Vale's expression darkened and concern swept through Link from him. "I must warn you... You, Vaati and your friend have all become connected into an ancient battle of ages past. The Spirit of the Hero, The **Rage** of the Demon and The Blood of the Princess are all tied in something beyond time. I saw a vision when the sprit let me in and it was not good... Link..."

Vale was fading into the darkness again as Link's sleep was fading...

 _"This is not Vaati's fault, but the fault of those who's actions brought out The Demon's **Rage**..."_


	12. Chapter 12: Shoes for the Sticky Swamp

**The plot thickens! What's going on with 'the spirit within Link' and Vale? What will Ezlo find out in all of this? What is the ancient battle? Well, regardless, there's still one stonified princess to save. Sorry for how long these next chapters took** **! Homework was a disaster... Full list of excuses on next before-chapter notes. So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Link literally ran into Vaati, hiding Ezlo from him. They fused the violet-lilac kinstone and all three of them saw the spark that floated to the sky. Strangely enough, Link noticed that Vaati felt as if he were four separate Vaatis, yet all the same. Upon seeing Ezlo, Vaati instantly became bitter again and Ezlo's plan failed spectacularly! Their warring feelings made Link feel sad. Vaati followed the kinstone all the way to the top of Mount Crenel, where he really began to wonder if power really was the answer he was looking for, and why that little kinstone which had fallen into his palm seemed to represent so much. Back at Smith's house, Ezlo learnt about Link's illness and Link faced the nightmare once and for all, meeting Vale, Vaati's older brother, who warned him that Vaati, Link and Zelda were all part of an ancient, timeless battle..._

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Shoes for the Sticky Swamp**

Link woke up, feeling better than he'd had in a long while. He noticed he was holding Ezlo as if he were a soft teddy bear and dropped him, tucking him up in the bed before leaving the room, giggling at his snoring, which was a lot like his grandpa's snoring. Link went inside the bathroom and changed into his non-burnt tunic before heading downstairs.

By the time Ezlo and Smith woke up, Link had already made breakfast for everyone.

"I didn't know Link could cook." commentated Ezlo after he got downstairs via being carried by Smith.

"Niether did I." added Smith, putting Ezlo down onto a nearby chair.

Ezlo couldn't help but wonder what _else_ Link was hiding from everybody...

...but his cooking _was_ delicious. They all -even Ezlo- helped with the dishes once everyone was done eating, and two minutes later Ezlo was back on Link's head and the two of them were heading off to... wherever the next element was! ...hmm...

Outside, it was sunny as per usual, and Link opened his map to see where to go next. Ezlo didn't bother asking Link where he'd learned how to cook. The kid wouldn't answer anyway.

One of the elements was in Lake Hylia -therefore unreachable due to Link's inability to swim- and the other was somewhere below Castor Wilds, a terribly dangerous swamp, in a blank space on the map.

"Well, Boy! Looks like that's where we're off to!" announced Ezlo, tapping the picture of Castor Wilds with his beak. Link nodded.

The two of them started by going south, then west, across the river. It wasn't the right way- a wall of trees blocked the path. So next, they went north, then west again at the entrance to Hyrule Town, but the bridge to Western Wood was ruined. Reduced to a lot of wood floating down River Hurry-Up.

"Well... I guess we'll be going through town, Boy!" Commentated Ezlo. Link nodded and ran through Hyrule Town, past I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim into Trilby Highlands, following the map down a ladder and into an underground cave. Inside, there were some magic tiles in front of a huge, solid, concrete block that Link could never move on his own. He tried anyway but failed.

"You're going to need another you for _that_ , Boy!" grumbled Ezlo. He looked down at Link's face and saw him slow-ly smile.

He then took out the White Sword from his bag and used the tiles to, indeed, make 'another him'. The clone helped him push the block out of the way before disappearing. Link put away the White Sword in his bag before climbing up the ladder behind the block to see a new area of Trilby Highlands, a lovely green field with clear blue patches of stream, so shallow that they hardly reached Link's ankles. There were also two large, brown pig-monsters with spears. Link drew his sword and sliced at their backs, defeating them.

After that, Link continued to follow the map into Western Wood, along the west wall of Hyrule Town. Just then, Link suddenly felt... a rush of power, like echoing waves, searing across the path from the north of Hyrule. It made him and Ezlo vibrate all over, yet it felt oddly like... Vaati. Ezlo felt it too and recognised it as the echoes of a very powerful, ancient spell which went beyond the basic laws of magic, something which should NOT, under ANY circumstances, be messed with. So of course Vaati was messing with it. Honestly, how did Vaati even know about it? What _else_ did Vaati take from behind his back?

Link and Ezlo looked around. "Eh? What a strange feeling. I just sensed something coming from the castle's direction. Hmm... Maybe it's just the wind... I hope nothing bad has happened." Ezlo was trying to reassure himself more than Link, though he knew something bad had to have happened from this kind of magic... "Anyway, we need to look for the next element. The map says it should be nearby somewhere..."

Further down the path, Link was attacked by a bunch of huge crow-like monsters. He slashed them all with his sword as they dived towards the map, claws outstretched. They, like all the other monsters, went poof.

Along the path, Link picked up a large rock and put it in his bag. When they passed a thick, long and sturdy stick, Link picked it up and put it in his bag. When they passed a fallen tree, Link cut a huge section of tree as big as him and Ezlo put together and put that in his bag too. He wanted to use them to see if what he'd read about Castor Wilds was true... Ezlo was just confused about him as usual. They then crossed the bridge into Castor Wilds.

Vast areas of sticky, smelly dark-greeny-mud-brown muck surrounded them on all sides, with spiky, tough old swamp-weeds growing in it. Link and Ezlo were on a small island of hard, solid -if a bit smelly- land. "So, this must be Castor Wilds..." Commentated Ezlo, looking at the map before Link put it away. "It's a nasty, dark place filled with swampland and mire... But we know there's an element somewhere here, so... into the muck with us!"

Link took the large rock from his bag and threw it into the swamp. It sank.

Next he threw the tough, sturdy and long stick into the swamp short-end first. It sank.

Finally, he threw the bit of tree as big as himself and Ezlo put together into the swamp small, flat end first. It sank.

Ezlo and Link watched as the bit of tree slow-ly sank into the swamp, deeper, deeper, deeper, until the last bit of tree sank just below the surface of the swamp, and the last tiny twig-leaves sill attached to the last tiny twig attached to the bit of tree gently stuck to the surface of the swamp and then was pulled below the surface with a little 'bloop'. You could have heard a leaf fall.

"I get your point." said Ezlo, "We can't run fast enough to cross this swamp... We'll have to find a way to get across safely..."

Link left the swamp the way they'd come into the swamp. This time, Link stopped to read a sign he'd missed on the way in. It read, 'Danger! Don't forget your pegasus boots!'

Link knew what pegasus boots were. Ezlo didn't. Link ran as fast as he could to the shoe store hanging onto Ezlo, who was complaining, "Where are we going?! Oh, surely you can SAY, right?! RIGHT?!"

Link had run right back into Hyrule Town and into Rem's Shoe Store- but it was _far_ too late. Rem the shoemaker had collapsed onto his work desk, fast asleep. Link sighed. He then looked onto the desk and saw three little picori wearing little blue coats and hats with bobbles on the end of Rem's desk! Across the room was a giant, up-side down pot. It felt like magic... Link smiled. Ezlo tried to figure out what he was up to, thinking that pegasus boots must be a kind of shoe. Link jumped right up on top of it. Ezlo felt its magically-charged power (not to be confused with magic power) and shrank them both.

"That's right!" said Ezlo, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, "Even some human objects are portals to The Minish World! Us minish may not look like much but we sure are crafty!" Link giggled a bit at Ezlo's inner pressure- the way he thought he had to keep up his reputation of being smart even though his reputation with Link was just being a funny hat. He carefully climbed up to the top of Rem's desk, where the picori greeted Link and Ezlo.

"Hey, hey! You're Link and Ezlo, right?" greeted the middle one, "You're the ones who brought the sword to Master Melari! You're on a quest to help the princess, aren't you? I wish I could go on a quest, but then who'd make Rem's shoes for him?"

"Trust me, you don't want to go on a quest with _this_ kid..." grumbled Ezlo under his breath before speaking louder, "Well anyway, we need a pair of pegasus boots to cross Castor Wilds."

"Ho, ho! You need pegasus boots?" asked the one on the right, "Why, you're just on time! We made a pair right now while Rem was sleeping. But only Rem can put the finishing touches on them..."

"Ha, ha!" cut in the one on the left, "That sleepyhead Rem is nearly impossible to wake up... If you want to wake him, you'll need to get an item from Syrup's Hut."

"Who's Syrup?" asked Ezlo. Link had heard of Syrup. She wasn't very popular because she lived in the woods and made potions. Nobody liked potions unless the minish made them, apparently. He'd often wanted to say hello one day.

"A human witch who makes useful things!" explained the picori in the middle, "It's a bit of a trek but I'll mark it on your map."

Link passed his map over to the minish and the minish marked Syrup's Hut on there before giving it back.

"Good luck!" finished all three of the minish.

"Thanks." replied Ezlo, "Well, let's get going, Boy!"

They did. According to the map, Syrup's Hut was past Lon Lon Ranch and all the way in a corner of Minish Woods. It really would be a bit of a trek... if they were minish-sized. Luckily they could grow to be bigger.

Link set off again, following his map. He went past Grandpa Smith's House and Eenie and Meenie's Farm before reaching Lon Lon Ranch, where Link's friend Malon lived. Seeing the ranch made Link think of the way Malon always complained about school- she was a ranch girl through and through, she always said, and school doesn't teach you how to look after cows and horses. There, there was a bit a problem going on between Malon and her father, Talon.

"I lost my key," Talon was saying, "and I can't get inside. And the spare key's in the house!"

"What a pain." replied Malon, "And I was thinking of going into town to sell more Lon Lon Milk." then she noticed Link. "Oh, hi Link! Did you overhear that? Dad's gone and locked us out of the house again, I'm just going to try and find a way into the house. Could you help?"

Link spotted the magic amplifier behind her and nodded. Malon was just as used to Link's silence as everyone else was, so she just replied, "Great! Thanks a lot, Link!" She left to go find a way into her house. Link curiously felt her embarrassment.

He then went straight to the magic amplifier and climbed on top of it. "Oh, come on, it could take us ages to find that key! What are you planning to do, sneak inside the house?!" complained Ezlo. Link nodded, happy at the chance to help someone out. "I asked you to stop doing that..." grumbled Ezlo, a little rattled. Link proceeded into Malon and Talon's house through a crack in the wall, then used a nearby pot-amplifier to grow again. He then went over to a nearby, smaller pot and picked up the spare key from inside. He then unlocked the front door from the inside and went back out again.

"Oh! You got our one and only spare key!" gasped Talon in surprise, "I don't know how you did it, but I can't thank you enough! Thank you so much, Link! Malon will be so pleased..." Link gave him the spare key and he left to go tell Malon the good news.

Ezlo couldn't help but feel happy inside. Though he hadn't done much to help, it felt nice to see Link's random act of kindness. After all, he could have ignored them and climbed over the fence. Link went through their house, but soon faced another problem- there was a deep, small, lake of water blocking the way to Syrup's Hut.

"Well, now what?" grumbled Ezlo, "Maybe there's another way across." Link looked around and saw a small hole in front of a tall area of land, where there was a whirlwind! He used the cane of Paaci to get up there, before using the whirlwind to fly over the water, using another whirlwind along the way.

After the two of them landed safely on the other side, Link bashed a couple of red rock-shooting monsters. That's when Ezlo noticed that Link was _still_ using his regular sword- was he trying to protect the sacred one? They soon got to Syrup's Hut via a corner of Lake Hylia.

Syrup's Hut was not exactly the most common-looking house around. It looked a bit like a mix between a very thick tree and a giant mushroom, though it seemed perfectly normal on the inside.

"Ah, please look around..." said Syrup the witch while mixing some sort of funny-smelling potion.

"See over there?" asked Ezlo, gesturing to an odd looking mushroom. "That's a wake-up mushroom. One whiff, and you're wide awake! That's exactly what we need!" One whiff of said mushroom and Link wasn't feeling too good... It smelled a bit like rotting food, a pile of stinky trash, and a small bowl of chilli powder combined in Grandpa Smith's furnace. Ezlo didn't seem to notice. Link started to cough as he picked up the disgusting-smelling mushroom.

"Oh? The wake-up mushroom? Would you like to buy it for 60 rupees?" asked Syrup. Link nodded and handed her the rupees, putting the stinky mushroom in his bag. Link decided that Syrup was obviously not as bad as everybody thought. She just happened to run a shop in the woods for travellers. In fact, she seemed just like her house- a bit odd on the outside but perfectly normal on the inside. Link made a mental note to encourage Zelda to encourage the king to get people exploring Hyrule a little more before setting off to go back to Hyrule Town.

He went back through Eenie and Meenie's field and through South Hyrule Field before running directly back to Rem's Shoe Store. "If I recall correctly, and I guarantee that a do, my boy... You need to place the mushroom in front of the sleeping person." advised Ezlo.

Link bent over Rem's desk, where the three minish were all hiding inside a spare uncompleted shoe. With them safely out of the way, he put the very smelly wake-up mushroom on Rem's desk, right in front of Rem, who bolted awake at last!

"Whaa-!" Exclaimed Rem in surprise, "What is that terrifyingly bad smell?!" his eyes focused on the horrid-smelling mushroom right in front of his face and on Link and Ezlo behind it. "A wake-up mushroom?! I should have guessed! So you woke me up, Link? Thanks, I just remembered I have something urgent to do!" That's when he spotted the pair of pegasus boots the minish on his desk had made. Link took the mushroom off of the desk and back into is bag, just in case he had to wake someone up again. "?! What now? There are more new shoes!" Rem commentated, "You probably won't believe this, but I have a habit of making shoes in my sleep! So you must have come here because you want some of my shoes, right?" Link nodded. "Tell you what! Because you were nice enough to help me out on numerous occasions, you can have 'em! Hold on a sec, though, I just need to finish this one last bit..."

He flipped the shoes up-side down and fixed something into the soles. "...and there you go... Here, take these. Those are my special pegasus boots! They're so light, you'll feel like you're walking on air! Ooh, I need to hurry up and get working on that special order... The king asked me to make some shoes for Princess Zelda, you see. Thanks for waking me up. Come back if you ever need my help with shoe problems!"

After putting on the shoes, which were a perfect fit, and putting them in the magic bag Link headed back to the smelly, sticky, and all-round deadly and unpleasant swamp known as Castor Wilds.

Once he was back at the sticky, smelly place, he clicked the buttons at the heels of the pegasus boots and ran, the tiny wings causing him to run uncontrollably fast across the mud and muck of the swamp, sending sprays of said substances everywhere and easily dirtying his white-turned-smelly-and-brown leggings.

Needless to say, Link was grinning like a maniac with excitement and hanging onto Ezlo, who was trying to hold onto Link for dear life.

Also needless to say, Ezlo was not enjoying himself.

"Well, my boy," said Ezlo once they'd reached the next bit of dry land, "we should start searching. You go look for the element and I'll sit up here and watch for danger."

Link went inside a nearby cave. Inside were some snake-like monsters which tried to bite him, but he was too fast for them and whacked them with his sword. Like with all the other monsters, they simply went poof. Down a set of stairs, through a long corridor, and through another door was a room with a treasure chest at the centre. But then the chest disappeared and a great big monster with white amour, a great big cloak and a great big sword and shield appeared!

"Hmph! So a guardian is protecting the treasure? Take care while fighting it." instructed Ezlo, rather unhelpfully. Link took him off and placed him at the side of the room before drawing his sword and getting his shield of his back, preparing some sort of battle stance.

He then leaped into battle, sword at the ready, and smashed that monster's helmet before it could blink. Ezlo stared, beak hanging open, as the helmet split right in two and fell off, revealing the monster's pig-like face. It was quite similar to the pigs with spears, though it was clearly a bit smarter than them.

It swung around, trying to hit Link, who was far too fast for it to catch. He slipped around to its back and stabbed his sword through its cloak, striking the monster from behind, then while it was reeling from that last attack, Link bashed it on the head with his shield. The monster, along with the broken bits of armour, went poof in a cloud of white smoke. All one could hear was Link's sword clanking to the ground.

 _(...I should be used to that sort of thing by now...)_ thought Ezlo, _(...but did he seriously learn that from regular old sword fighting lessons?!)_

Link picked up his sword, then Ezlo, as the treasure reappeared at the centre of the room. Inside it, Link found a golden kinstone, or half of one. Strangely, its feeling was a message that only Link could hear. _I am one of the three keys..._ The feeling of the kinstone seemed to say.

"How rare! A key kinstone! They can open hidden pathways if you find their pair, commonly known as the gate kinstone!" Commentated Ezlo.

After they left the cave, Link climbed up a nearby plant to the higher ground and and tried to figure out where to go next. He went across the bridge to his right and then climbed down another plant. There, there was an evil-looking statue with one, huge, eye taking most of its face. "Now that's one nasty-looking statue!" pointed out Ezlo, "That eye has such an evil glower to it..."

"Hisss... Hissss..." [Really? I never bothered to look.] A small snake with sharp, poisonous fangs and swampland-green scales slithered around the base of the statue. Its voice was a smaller, more innocent type of voice- obviously this was a young snake.

"Well, yes, I'd say so." replied Ezlo. Link looked down to see the little snake and smiled at her.

"Hisssy Hiss, hiss?" [Isssss that human your friend, Mr. Hat?] asked the snake, "Hiss. Hissy hiss!" [I like humanssss. They give me food!]

"Yes, and its not 'Mr. Hat', its 'Mr. EZLO' to you." explained Ezlo, a bit grumpily. The little snake blinked, then smiled. That's when Link picked the snake up, gently. The snake tilted her head.

"Hiss Hissy, Hissy!" [Nicccce to meet you, human!] The snake was rather friendly towards him. Ezlo wasn't really surprised, that snake seemed just as trusting as Link was! Did she not even know that hats don't normally talk? And since _when_ were snakes _friendly_?

"His name's Link," grumbled Ezlo, "so do you know your way around here? We're looking for shiny, golden stones. Or anything useful."

"Hissy! Hiss hisss! Hiss hiss hiss." [Ssssure! Follow me! I know where there'ssss a ussseful thing.]

With that, the snake easily slipped out of Link's arms and slithered off the way they'd just come from. Link followed her. The snake led them all over the place, across bridges, swimming across areas of sticky muck -Link just waited for the snake to swim across and then used the pegasus boots again- and finally reaching... a log. Near a stump. Which happened to be a magic amplifier.

"Hissy hiss hiss..." [I know there'sssss ssssomething useful passsst that log, but you need to be a bit sssssmaller...] apologetically explained the snake.

"Don't worry, I've got that covered." Said Ezlo, "What is your name?"

"Hiss hiss." [I don't really call myself anything.] replied the snake. Link felt the snake's simple curiosity, friendliness and overall trust. Though he had no idea what she was saying, he came up with a few names anyway.

"...S-Snakey? S-Scales? F-Fang?" Suggested Link, thinking about what the snake could be called.

"Oh, please..." sighed Ezlo, "you might as well call her Venom!" Looking back a second later, Ezlo realised that pulling a word like that on a young boy and an even younger snake, both of which did not have a large vocabulary, was a bad idea.

"Hiss hissy!" [That sssssounds cool!] commentated the snake, tilting her head again, "Hissy hiss, hiss." [If you inssssisssst on names, I don't mind it.]

Link nodded happily, and for a second Ezlo could have sworn he was saying 'Good i-idea!' again. So from now on, it seemed the snake was officially known as Venom, at least in Link's mind anyway. Link climbed up onto the magic amplifier and Ezlo started the whole shrinking process. "Hissy!" [I wanna try too!] hissed Venom happily, climbing up to the stump as well so before Ezlo could protest, Venom was shrunk down as well as Ezlo and Link.

There was a corridor built into the log, so the shrunken down three went through it. Past there was a lilly pad on some water, so Link used it to cross, though Venom insisted on swimming. Link watched Venom swim and wondered how the little snake did it. On the other side of the water were some large blue bug-monsters. Link pulled out his sword to fight them, but then Venom leapt forwards and defeated them herself.

"Hissy hiss." [I don't like them.] explained Venom, "Hiss hiss hiss! Hissy hiss." [They've been messsssing things up and killing all the prey! Luckily sssssome humansssss in the woods were feeling nicccce.]

A large treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room and Link opened it. Inside was a bow, a quiver, and thirty arrows.

'Put an arrow in the string and aim carefully! Don't shoot things that should not be shot. Warning- arrows are pointy. Try not to get them stuck in your annoying hat companion! This will be useful when dealing with the evil statues.'

...read a label on the bow. Link put them all away in his bag before heading back towards a statue he and Ezlo had passed while following Venom. Along the way, Ezlo gave Venom a little crash course as to how the bag worked. Link wasn't really listening as he was too busy trying not to get lost.

"...So basically, there is a hole leading to a small, separate dimension in Link's bag." Finished Ezlo, looking proud of himself.

[Can _I_ do magic too, Mr. Essszlo?] Asked Venom, [Alssso... What did all that mean?]

"I can't see why not..." mused Ezlo, "After all, magic works regardless of one's form... Hmm... That does still depend on wether you have the gift though, not everyone can do magic, human, minish, snake, or otherwise..."

Link shot the statue in the eye- which made it shake, then stomp towards Link very, very slowly. He didn't bother to finish it, he just ran around it and climbed up to the higher ground behind the statue, where it couldn't follow. There was a whirlwind spinning up there. In the not-so-far distance, all three travellers could see swampland, rather mucky actual water, and some old, crumbling statues, each one with something golden glittering against the sun.

"Hisss hisss..." [Golden thingssss...] Gasped Venom, "Hisssy hiss?" [How will we get over there?]

"I've got that covered too." Stated Ezlo, looking a bit embarrassed. Link looked over at Venom and patted his own shoulder. Venom was much better at non-verbal communication than Ezlo was, so she got the hint and climbed up onto Link's shoulder, curling her long-ish body around so that she wouldn't fall off. Link giggled a bit- Venom felt tickle-y! Link held tightly onto Ezlo as the hat filled up with air, taking all of them across the swamp and the mucky water, landing right in front of the three old statues.

Upon seeing them close up, Link thought they looked like they had faces on. In each 'forehead' of the stone 'faces' was a little hole which were each half-filled up by half of golden kinstones- the gate kinstones. Link matched his key kinstone with one of the gate kinstones, and the golden spark produced by it went to a huge, sold, old-looking block which was in the way of somewhere interesting -according to Ezlo translating Venom- and broke it a little making it crumble in several different places. The gate statue looked as if it were smiling now.

After that, Venom announced -Ezlo translated- [I know where the other golden thingssss are! I'll ssshow you where they are!] The little snake slithered off Link's shoulders and showed him the way to the golden kinstones while Ezlo didn't say anything. It was all very quiet. Ezlo was thinking over what Vaati might be up to now...

Another one of those stone markers exploded, Link shot another evil statue, Venom helped beat some monsters, they all went across a bridge across the higher land, Link used Ezlo as a parachute to cross more water, reaching a cave, getting another kinstone piece and Ezlo didn't even notice until he muttered, "So hungry..." and his stomach grumbled. Very loudly. "! That wasn't my stomach! It must have been the wind or something!"

Link got the message. Besides, he was feeling pretty hungry too and Venom decided lunchtime was a good time- so he stopped for lunch right then and there. Link wasn't sure what was safe for Venom to eat so he gave her a sandwich. She didn't touch it, instead going off to eat something else. After eating his food, Ezlo tried to start some sort of conversation while Venom took a nap.

"So, Link, are you trying to protect the sacred sword by not using it?" asked Ezlo.

Link didn't say anything.

"Er... where'd you learn to cook? Breakfast was very nice by the way..."

Still no answer.

"It's hard to have a conversation when you're being so quiet. Am I supposed to do _ALL_ the talking?!"

Link nodded.

"...That's one way to get the message across... Well, anyway, do you still feel like learning magic? I think you've got potential, my boy..."

Link wasn't really listening. He was actually wondering wether Zelda was still alive or not, what Vaati was up to, wether Ezlo would ever stop asking questions and what Venom could eat. Link was hoping that things would get better again once the adventure was over and Zelda was well and truly back to her normal, loud, chatty self. Things were too quiet without her to talk his ears off again...

Soon after, Link, Ezlo and Venom left the cave, crossed the swamp and fused the kinstone piece with the middle statue. The spark the completed kinstone produced caused the large block to crack so much it looked like it was ready to explode!

Ezlo noticed that Link was rather in a hurry today. He wondered what was making the usually-overly-peppy kid like this today. Oh, well. Link would be perfectly fine. Said boy was following Venom right back to that first evil statue they'd med Venom at. Link shot it with the bow and arrow until it went poof, continued past it, and followed the dry path until he reached the third cave with the third treasure chest with the third kinstone.

Using the pegasus boots, Link headed directly back to the old statues and fused the final kinstone, its spark simply making the crumbling block of wall explode like those exploding symbol-stones. Link checked the map to see where it would lead... and saw blank empty space.

Venom looked up at the map from Link's shoulders and, once she'd figured out what the map was for, pointed to the blank empty space and said, "Hisss... Hisss." [I know what thisss issss... It'ssss The Wind Ruinssss.] Ezlo translated again. Link pulled one of his pencils out of his bag and walked onwards, labelling the new area 'Wind Ruins' on the map.

He seemed pretty insistent on attempting to map the new, unexplored area. So, while Link went around trying to make it accurate, Venom excitedly chattered about the kinds of food she could catch around here. [Sssso there'sss all thessse deliccccious kindsss of birdsss, eggsss and miccce... but don't get me wrong, I would never eat a minisssh! I'm friendsss with one around here, who taught me how to be nicccce!]

"That's nice." replied Ezlo, greatly relieved that this particular snake didn't eat minish.

Meanwhile, Link had finally done the path they were all -well, that Link was while his hat companion sat on his head and his snake companion curled around his shoulders- on, he walked onwards and forwards. Link kept on drawing it as they went along the path, not even looking where exactly he was going.

[Oh! That remindsssss me, you two need to be careful about the big red guard sssstatuesss!] Warned Venom, [They attack people that touch them or go near them!]

"Big red guard statues?!" asked Ezlo, looking straight ahead to the big red statue with a glowing yellow hole for a face holding a big red shield with ridges on it that Link was currently absentmindedly ambling torards. "LINK! LOOK OUT FOR THAT STATUE!" Link looked up for a second just as he bumped into the statue- which burst into life, holding a great big sword as well as its shield. It swung forward to attack Link... who held up his hand in a little 'please wait for a second' gesture. The red statue stopped as Link put away the map and pencil.

Venom leaned upwards to whisper to Ezlo, [Isss he alwaysss doing thingsss like that?]

"Always." quietly confirmed Ezlo, shaking his head, "I haven't got a clue how he does it."

The statue got right back to attacking once Link drew his sword and grabbed his shield, ready to battle. He tried the regular method of 'whack with sword', but the sword had no effect on the red statue's stone body. Link just kept on whacking, black eyes twinkling just that little bit. He was smiling.

[Doesss he alwaysss do that too?] asked Venom.

"Wait for it..." replied Ezlo, looking at Link's right hand, which was reaching into his side-bag and drawing a round, metal object with a fizzing fuse, "...and get down, there is going to be a big-"

 **BOOM!**

Bits of red statue fell to the floor everywhere, the statue's shield clattered to the ground unharmed, and Link just stood there grinning for a second. As usual, Ezlo was speechless when it came to the sorts of dangerous things Link did to beat tough monsters- though the red statue had been more like a machine than a monster. The somewhat absent-minded boy then got right back to his map-drawing as he walked along the path.

[Cool..! By the way, doesss he alwaysss do that too?] commentated Venom.

"Well, not that specifically, but he certainly does do a lot of crazily dangerous things without even saying anything..." grumbled Ezlo.

[Could you ssssay that again with ssssimple wordsss?] asked Venom.

Ezlo tried to simplify what he'd just said while Link absent-mindedly continued his map drawing- which was admittedly quite good for a ten-year-old. Things were going fine. Until Link stopped in front of another red statue, this time with the hole for its face not glowing. The statue didn't do anything, and it was blocking the way with its indestructible shield.

"Hisss hisss? Hisssy. Hisss Hiss!" [Ssssee that hole in the ground over there? That'ssss where my friend livesss. I think he can help you with that statue-thing!] Suggested Venom.

"Good idea! There's a portal over there too, and it's getting late. Let's go shrink and head inside, Boy!" announced Ezlo.

"Hissy..." [I'm a girl...] Said Venom, confused.

"No, that's just my nickname for Link and Vaati." replied Ezlo without thinking.

[Whossss Vaati?] asked Venom.

Luckily for Ezlo, that exact point is when Link somehow managed to shrink them all in a conveniently-placed magic amplifier. After that they were all leaping down the hole along with Link- or rather, Link was leaping down the hole and the other two were hanging on for dear life.

It really was a nice, cosy little place where a minish lived. "Oh! Hello, hello! Guests are _SO_ rare 'round here!" squeaked the minish, super-excited. Then he looked a little closer at Link's shoulders. "Oh! You're that little snake who came 'round here! Now, did this boy manage to shrink you?"

"Yes, but I can't think how he does it." cut in Ezlo, "It took me AGES to figure it out and he just does it without even thinking!"

[Thesssse are my new friendsssss, human-called-Link and hat-called-Mr. Esszlo!] Happily introduced Venom, [They like to call me Venom.]

"A sorcerer turned me into a hat," explained Ezlo, "and would you mind if we stayed over tonight?"

"Oh! No, no, I don't mind! I've got some spare sleeping bags! My name's Chitto. Pleased to meet you two!" chattered Chitto, setting up the sleeping bags.

"P-pleased to meet you t-too!" greeted Link.

[The boy ssspeaksss!] cheered Venom, waving the tip of her tail around in celebration.

 _(That boy never fails to be surprising...)_ thought Ezlo as Venom slid off Link's shoulders and did a little celebratory dance on the carpet. Link giggled and joined in, making Ezlo thoroughly dizzy with all the spinning in the 'little dance'.

"Wow! It hasn't been this lively since Chilta moved to the big mountains and the wind people left for the great skies! I'm going to go make some food." Said Chitto, moving off to the fire-box to cook something as Ezlo hopped off Link's head, said boy enthusiastically rushing off to the fire-box so he could help.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. Just so you know, Link is allergic to pini mushroom spores, so please don't put it in anything." Explained Ezlo before hopping off to 'sit down' somewhere.

Link thought about something Zelda had said once...

 _"Bad things happen all the time. But good things happen at the same time. You just need to look at it from another point of view!"_

His mom and dad had always said similar things. In fact, it had been his dad's idea to teach him how to cook. Zelda had come along to learn too! Link always could remember when Zelda had been there for him. It was part of all the hundred reasons why Link was determined to save her.

Meanwhile, Ezlo watched as Link and Chitto worked together to make dinner. Venom fell fast asleep near the fireplace. Ezlo felt inspired to help people too from watching Link do it... but alas! He had no hands right now! So he couldn't help.

Once dinner was over, Ezlo and Chitto chatted a bit before Ezlo went half-inside Link's magic bag for the night and Link curled up inside a sleeping bag, his way of insisting that Chitto should take the bed.

For the first time in years, Link fell asleep and dreamed nice dreams.

As Ezlo closed his eyes to sleep, he was certain that sleeping near to Link, little tail twitching up and down, was Vaati, regular, unusual, little, minish Vaati... though the illusion faded, slipped away with the darkness as Ezlo closed his eyes.


	13. Chapter 13: Playing King

**I'm sorry for not posting anything in ages... That happened because the wifi protection thingy wouldn't let me use Fanfiction, I got distracted, there was a lot of homework to deal with, general school stuff, computer problems, Christmas, lack of related ideas, and my own general laziness due to everything else. I'll try to stick to the schedule from now on... Sorry again. So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Due to Link's inability to swim, Link and Ezlo headed to Castor Wilds, a very dangerous swamp, for the third element. Along the way, Link and Ezlo felt Vaati's powerful magic waves coming from Hyrule Castle- what was the purple sorcerer up to now? There, Link quickly made it clear that getting across it without a pair of pegasus boots was not an option. So, the two of them went to a shoe store, then to a witch's hut to get a smelly mushroom, then back to the shoe store to wake up the shoe store owner, getting the pegasus boots and heading back to the swamp. There, Link and Ezlo met a little snake called Venom, who if anything was more innocent than Link was! With Venom's help, Link and Ezlo managed to find their way to the hidden Wind Ruins, where Link blew up a living statue and a nice minish let them all stay for the night. At long last, Link was able to have a good night's sleep, though as Ezlo closed his eyes, he was certain he saw a younger Vaati sleeping in the room as well..._

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Playing King**

Vaati was fast asleep at the top of Mount Crenel. The monsters, being monsters, had reappeared overnight and one -a red, four-legged bug-like monster with one eye and a lot of spiky teeth in the mouth on its underside- jumped right up on top of Vaati's head and bit it, teeth sinking past the hat and hair and just about pinching Vaati's scalp... a little.

"Ow!" said Vaati, bolting awake to see the peaceful mountain now covered in monsters. Vaati recognised them as tektites, spiny beetles and chu-chus. Vaati, now in a very grumpy mood, grabbed the tektite on his head, carefully yanked it off -to no harm to his hair or hat- and aggressively threw it off the mountainside before sending a few mini-cyclones at the the other monsters. Thanks to this, many of them were sent pummelling off the other side of mountain and out of Hyrule (where they would cause much more trouble in the later parts of Hyrule's history) like that first tektite. Vaati easily defeated the remaining few using a spray of compressed wind bullets, which each made the monsters disappear in a collective batch of white smoke. By the time it cleared up, not a single monster remained on that mountain top.

Vaati's mood was now better -sort of- so he calmed down a bit before teleporting straight to Hyrule Castle, in order to finally use his plan to use the soldiers of Hyrule to find the light force, and do a bit of searching around himself.

By 'teleport', I mean split himself into a load of teeny-weeny black molecules and then sped to his destination through walls, trees, and anything else in his way faster than the speed of light and reformed where he wanted to go- the throne room of Hyrule Castle.

In front of him now was the king, sitting a little way away on his throne, in deep thought.

"Hmm? Who's there?!" Called the king, before he looked ahead of him and spotted Vaati. "Vaati! How did you get in here!?"

Vaati said nothing, instead splitting himself and rushing straight to the king, stopping just in front of him. He raised his arms, letting powerful magic flow through him, true Ancient Magic that Ezlo had always gone on about not messing with it. This happened to be a type of possession magic which lasted a lot longer than a mere ten seconds. This was consciousness bonding, in which Vaati's spirt would enter the spiritual consciousness of the target and Vaati's body would dissipate into black molecules which would just float around doing nothing for the time being, his own consciousness temporarily being the target's.

"Uhn..." groaned the king, clutching his head. "What are you doing?!"

 _("Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!")_ laughed Vaati within the king's consciousness. From there, he was able to control the king's body through his own spiritual form. He flexed the king's fingers a bit before calling the soldiers of Hyrule and Minister Potho. Once they were all there, in the most 'official' sounding way he could think up, he announced, "It looks like you're all here. Very well. The king of Hyrule has words for you." -he did, but more along the lines of 'Help! Vaati's controlling my mind!' than- "You all know of the power of the Picori gave to mankind, do you not? The Golden Light Force of incredible magical power... I want it! It is somewhere underground here in Hyrule! Go now, and bring me it's power!"

The soldiers all seemed confused about what Vaati was saying using the king's voice.

"Waste no time! Go forth at once, and bring me the light force! Fling anyone who refuses into the dungeon! Him and his family, too! I will tolerate no disobedience! Now, search everywhere throughout the lands of Hyrule!" Yes, that sounded EXACTLY what Vaati imagined a king would be like. The soldiers all left without a word.

Minister Potho nervously asked, "Are you okay, your majesty? You're not acting like yourself today..."

"I feel perfectly fine." replied Vaati using the king's voice.

"Right. Well, with all due respect, your majesty, why did you send the soldiers off to look for the light force? Surely, at least someone should try and find Vaati..."

"I have my reasons." replied Vaati, being careful not to give away the truth by accident.

"I shall respect your decision, then." said Minister Potho. "Right... now remember that very important paperwork you need to do in your office." He then walked out of the room.

Vaati quickly found that he could see properly through the king's undamaged eyes, and that he could scan through the king's memories, similar to what he'd done with Siroc. However, in doing so, the king might just see some of his memories... but that would be of no consequence. He scanned through the king's memories and quickly discovered that yes, these would be very useful in understanding the politics involved with being the king.

Vaati left the throne room and walked down a corridor, remembering the way to the king's office. The king's body felt a bit... stiff. Heavy, like he was wearing thick, lumpy armour. Since the possession was reversible, the king's body was not moving as naturally as Vaati could move his own, and this would take a bit of getting used to. However, it was an upside to be able to see through both eyes again.

He quickly mastered breathing, then walking, then arm movement, then other kinds of movement. He tried to do it when nobody was looking so that none of the people going around the castle would notice. Possession is far from a simple matter, and can have nasty side effects, which is why most possession spells only last about ten seconds at most. One particular problem would be the home spirit, the king in this case, fighting for control. This would be very bothersome in the near future...

Having done a lot of research on powerful spells and how to use them without accidentally messing up your or someone else's natural balance and causing havoc, Vaati knew what he was doing. He thought about how he had been struggling to bring out his own potential- partly because Ezlo was always 'far too busy' to bother teaching HIM, partly because of his own low self-confididence, and partly because there was hardly any space to practice in which didn't involve Ezlo's oh-so-precious furniture or something Vaati used to be afraid of... which was pretty much everything back then, but he'd grown out of them -no thanks to Ezlo, who'd gone on about them being silly and whatever-it-was was harmless even though most of those things were actually dangerous- and a few more were eliminated from the moment he first put on that hat.

Once Vaati found the office, he saw that it was actually a rather cosy-looking room, with a desk and chair in the middle. On the desk was a neat pile of papers and a pen. He sat down on the chair and looked at the papers, most of which were boring-seeming important decisions, laws and things like that, some of which were invitations to birthday celebrations to Zelda. One was a letter from a... Milly Lisan? Asking to join Hyrule's Royal Army as a recruit?

 _(Where have I heard that last name before..?)_ thought Vaati, looking at Milly's letter.

 _"...First, we have Mira Lisan, who has just returned from her training at Mount Crenel!"_

 _"Nobody, least of all YOU, is going to stop me winning that sword for my sister!"_

 _(Her SISTER!)_ thought Vaati, _(What were the odds? Well... looks like I know how to do something in the king's shoes...)_

With that, he wrote an acceptance letter in the king's handwriting to send to Milly. After that, he quickly figured out how to fill in all the other papers, then picked up another piece of paper from the top of the pile and looked at it. This one was about some new law about safety and horse restraints. Vaati didn't like the sound of it so he crumpled it up and threw it in a nearby bin.

So he continued looking at the papers, the king's political memories, and forming his own opinions as to how things should work around here. Actually, Vaati was reminded of homework as he sorted through the papers, and of all those silly questionnaires Ezlo had made to try and distract him from his magic books and said homework. It had never worked.

 _Seven-year-old Vaati sat down in Ezlo's living room and did his homework from school._

 _It had been a great distraction from real life, and it would have helped him at the end of it. Most kids saw it as boring, but Vaati had seen it as a chance to prove himself._

 _To do so well that they would have to finally stop ignoring his existence and recognise that he had been there, learning stuff like everyone else._

 _However, they had never really seemed to respond. As if they had never even looked at Vaati's overdone work._

Vaati shook the king's head. No, he had to stop doing that! The past had made him who he was now, but he had to move away from it now. Now was not the time to get distracted. He had to get this paperwork done to the best of his ability -after all, he didn't want Hyrule to fall apart- as soon as possible so that he could get exploring and see if anything around here to the light force. As the king, he could explore much easier and no-one would question him. Unless they wanted a trip to the dungeon.

The wayward sorcerer slow-ly smiled, and an almost demonic look came over the king's face for a moment. As the king, Vaati had power. Vaati could _make_ people acknowledge him, accept him. A new idea popped into Vaati's head. With the light force, he could rule Hyrule, couldn't he? No-one could stop him. Once he had it, he could do _anything... Anything at all... Anything he wanted..._ Vaati doubled his efforts to understand the politics involved with the paperwork, and soon after it was all sorted and done. Vaati peered into another of the king's memories.

 _King Daltus called Minister Potho into the office. His well-trusted minister would know how to take care of the rest. Now, it was time for a much-needed nap. The King went through a couple of flights of stairs, reaching his personal chamber- the one no-one but him was allowed to enter without his permission._

Ahh, so _that_ was what he did with the documents. Vaati called Minister Potho over. He left the minister to sort it out and set off to continue his search for the light force. There were plenty of parts of the castle he hadn't searched yet, after all. He decided to start with the king's personal chamber. As he made the king's body walk down a red corridor, Vaati suddenly heard the actual king's voice echoing from his consciousness.

 _("Vaati! Why are you doing this? What are you up to?!")_ Yelled King Daltus.

 _("It's nothing you would care about.")_ replied Vaati through his thoughts, trying to block the king out.

 _("I will not stand for this, Vaati!")_ Shouted King Daltus, _("I will stop you!")_

 _("Please, keep the threatening to a minimum, I'm busy.")_ Stated Vaati, yawning before closing the king's eyes and opening the eyes of his own spiritual form.

Laid out around him was the consciousness, a blank, empty place where one could see with no light. Vaati's spirit form was exactly like his regular form, as was the king's, except that -as the body was harmed, not the sprit- he could see through both eyes, 'hair' in the way or not. This was due to Vaati's way of thinking, the way he saw things as they were and therefore did not imagine much else in the consciousness... and _that_ happened to be because Vaati was the one in charge of the king's body at the moment, his own in a kind of stasis.

King Daltus was right in front of him, looking very much cross. Now this, _this_ was a tricky situation. Killing the king was out of the question for a number of reasons, including Vaati not really being totally evil, the king dying causing natural balance problems, and a number of very nasty side-effects. Turning him into stone was impossible due to King Daltus being in a spiritual form- such does not turn to stone. The best Vaati could risk doing was to knock him out and hope he didn't bother him later.

The king drew a sword and ran towards Vaati, who leaped into the air and sent storm bolts -compressed electrified wind bolts, each one equivalent to a teeny-tiny storm- in a curved arc around the king, who tried to slash them but got electrified in the process, just as Vaati quickly drew a magical sword of his own and sent the hilt of the violet blade bonking King Daltus's head at a high speed. Vaati let his magic dissipate as the king fell to the ground, knocked out. Obviously he'd be back and kicking, but for now Vaati was in full control.

Vaati closed his spirt eyes and opened the king's eyes again. Controlling the king's body, he walked through all the red corridors and red staircases to reach the king's private chamber... which was also mainly red. There was a large bed to one side, and a wardrobe filled with outfits next to a window, which had grand red curtains with gold patterns across it. There was a door to the other side which led to a bathroom which worked using all the interesting human 'pipes' and 'taps' and all the rest of it. To the back side of the room, there was a large bookshelf, which was filled with books.

After looking around a bit, he started looking around for clues that could lead him to the light force. So far, all he knew was that it was in a sacred underground place- which wasn't much to go on. Vaati began by checking the floor, the cupboard, and a few other places for secret panels, but there weren't any. He next rattled through the bookshelf to see if he could find anything useful, and while he did find quite a lot of interesting things... nothing even remotely related to the light force was found. Vaati sighed in annoyance.

Just then, there was a loud knocking on the door. "Excuse me, your majesty, but your lunch is ready." said a voice from outside. Vaati went over to the door and opened it, revealing a rather nervous-looking maid. He followed her to the dining hall, where some of Hyrule's top soldiers, some maids and Minister Potho were all sitting, waiting for 'the king' to make a few announcements before eating lunch. Vaati went to the king's seat.

"It is of the utmost importance to me that I receive the light force as soon as possible! Zelda is to be brought to my private chamber as soon as this meal is finished. No-one is to enter the castle unless they are part of the royal staff- whichever of Hyrule's soldiers which are not searching for the light force must guard the castle and make sure nobody else gets in, and if I find out that _anyone_ has slacked off, they will be sent to the dungeons immediately! Now, by the blessings of the three golden goddesses, we may eat." Announced Vaati. That sounded proper and official enough.

Still, everyone there looked a bit unsettled. Vaati looked back to the lunch he'd witnessed here and thought that he might be doing something wrong. He was never a good actor after all; he knew that he was just doing what he would do if he were the king, not what the actual king would do. That seemed to be enough to make people believe he was the king... or at least to make them obey him.

There were several reasons as to why he wanted Zelda in the king's personal chamber, including wanting to keep an eye on her in case her power broke the spell and not wanting her to witness anything else he ordered people to do. He'd be long gone by the time these people found out he'd fixed Zelda, which would be after he'd found the light force. From there... Maybe he'd go explore the huge world beyond Mount Crenel, or perhaps play king a little longer. The possibilities would certainly be endless!

Once Vaati (who had not eaten a single bit of meat- it felt _wrong_ to eat something you could talk to) and everyone else was done eating, they all went their separate ways- mainly to follow Vaati's orders. Vaati continued his search for the light force.

Outside the dining room, he passed those pictures of the king's ancestors, the king, and the one of Link and Zelda.

"The light force, or a clue to it, has to be around here somewhere..." muttered Vaati, "I should try searching the underground floors- I can begin doing this properly from down there."

He soon found himself in the throne room again, where a few people were helping ti very, very carefully move Zelda out of the room. Vaati could feel her mysterious power from here... Perhaps that power what what drew him to her- but that didn't explain Link. Vaati felt just as drawn to him as he was to her... What made them so special?

After watching the people leave the room, he put the king's hand in the king's coat pocket. Sure enough, Vaati's dimensional hole spell had made itself a new entrance as Vaati had essentially 'changed clothes', as the spell saw it. That was just how they worked. Vaati took the diary and pencil out when nobody was looking, sat down on the throne, wrote a diary entry for yesterday then this one for today:

'Age- 13 years old. Date- 21st of August, 307.

To whoever reads this thing,

I got a very rude awakening by a tektite this morning. Someone must have cleared them out, but monsters always come back due to the Cursed Spirit Theory. Well, the thing jumped right onto my head and BIT me. Trust me, that HURT! I cleared out all the monsters again with my newfound power, then teleported directly to the castle as planned. I also managed to possess the king using consciousness bonding. No doubt that kind of powerful stuff send a rebounding echo that any magician/sage/sorcerer/witch/wizard/general magic user worth their salt would be able to feel from a couple of miles away a couple of hours later! ...I wonder if Ezlo would be proud of me if I actually managed to remember everything. Probably not. He was never satisfied, but I digress. It took a bit of getting used to, but I am now fully in control of the king's body. Everyone thinks I'M the king thanks to the magic despite the fact that I'm a terrible actor. So far, I haven't found anything light-force-related here, but I believe I'm getting closer to it- apparently, it's at a sacred place below ground...-'

Suddenly, just as Vaati wrote that last sentence, something in Vaati's mind clicked- The Elemental Sanctuary! The sanctuary, the gateway between The Minish and Human Worlds, was a very sacred place indeed and from what Vaati remembered, it was indeed UNDERGROUND! How had he not thought of that sooner?! Vaati quickly wrote the rest of the diary entry-

'I just realised as I was writing this- The Elemental Sanctuary is both a sacred place and underground! The location really was under my nose this whole time. I will go there right now. This could be it...

-Vaati'

Once he'd written it, he ran to the sanctuary as fast as the king's legs would allow him to.

 _(Could this be it?)_ thought Vaati, _(The key to the light force?)_

Once he got there, the first thing he noticed was the powerful forces of Earth and Fire were within this room. Putting two and two together, Vaati quickly realised Link must have put them there- if he'd been carrying the Earth Element around then he'd have no problem with Fire. Just behind them was a stone tablet blocking the way forwards.

It was clearly a powerful stone, its message changing depending on the magical aura it was surrounded with. Vaati tried to break it anyway, cooking up the most destructive magic he could think of to try and break it, but at the end of the onslaught... Nothing was even scratched. Vaati should have thought as much, as it was protected by sacred power. After all, the sanctuary _was_ directly between two dimensions. Now, the words on the tablet were written in Vaati's home dialect of minish. It read,

'Should you wish to reveal the true location of the light force, to must hone the sacred elements through the blade of the ancient legends.'

The sword. The SWORD?! To find the light force, Vaati would have to find THE SWORD first?! Then the elements, then fuse them all to get the sword fixed. According to his research, the elements were in the four most dangerous corners of Hyrule- the forest, the mountain, the swamp and the lake. But wait one itty-bitty second...

 _Two of the elements were already here, most likely brought over by Link!_ Now it suddenly made sense why that boy had been in such a hurry, who had cleared the monsters before Vaati got to Mount Crenel and even why Ezlo was tagging along with him!

 _(Link must be nothing short of incredible to have found and fused two of the elements in what, three and a half days?!)_ thought Vaati, _(Ezlo would be of very little help, knowing the nature of that spell, so just HOW did he do it?!)_

Well, that didn't really matter right now. The point was that Link would lead him right to the light force... all he had to do was wait, and Vaati was very good at waiting.


	14. Chapter 14: Echoes of the past

**Here I am, and guess what? These chapters WOULD have been on time, but the Wifi broke on me. It just wouldn't work! I'm trying to find a solution but nothing else has worked so far... So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Vaati got a very rude awakening by a bunch of monsters up on Mount Crenel. After sending them all flying, he teleported directly to Hyrule Castle, where he took over control at the king's mind so that everybody would think he was the king- though his terrible acting skills still made people get suspicious. After ordering the army to go search for the light force and keep everyone away from the castle, he did some of the king's paperwork and then went searching around for clues to the light force with no luck whatsoever- until he realised that the light force's location was hidden in the elemental sanctuary, and that Link was practically on his way to finding it for him! Now all he would have to do was wait..._

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Echoes of the Past; Psychic for the Future**

Ezlo woke up first and wiggled out of the bag. To his surprise, Link was sleeping deeply and smiling. That's exactly when Link's eyes snapped open, for a second, a startling shade of electric-blue, before they faded back to their usual black. Ezlo wondered if he'd actually just seen that. Meanwhile, Link was feeling all refreshed and excited!

"Good morning!" greeted Ezlo.

"Hiss!" [Good morning!] replied Venom.

"Good morning to you all!" squealed Chitto excitedly, "Did you have a nice sleep?"

"Hissy hiss." [Yesssss, thanksssss a lot!] politely replied Venom.

"By the way, do you know anything about those big red guard statues outside?" asked Ezlo to Chitto as Link, full of energy, made everybody breakfast while making another packed lunch for himself, Venom and Ezlo. He could hear everything which was being said.

"Yes! Those soldier statues here were built by the minish ages ago to help humans. It's kind of a secret, but there's a switch inside that turns them on or off. Thanks for being such nice guests!"

With the new information in mind, Link put Ezlo on then gently picked up Venom -who climbed up to his shoulders- and left Chitto's house, said minish waving goodbye. He felt Chitto's happiness and gratefulness, as well as Ezlo's calmness and Venom's excitement.

Outside, Link climbed up the ridges on the red statue's magic shield and went into its 'face', which was a room in itself. All along the curved walls were dark red patterns, and in the middle there was a switch with an unlit torch behind it. Link looked around curiously and Ezlo marvelled at the ancient minish technology. Meanwhile, Venom slithered off Link's shoulders and pulled the lever with her tail, activating the torch and causing the patterns along the walls to glow a bright, lively red.

Upon seeing that the statue was activated, Link and Ezlo turned around to see that Venom had pulled the lever. Link smiled a little wider and let Venom go onto his shoulders again on the way down the statue's shield. He then went back to the nearby magic amplifier and they all grew back to their normal sizes. Venom got off Link's shoulders again and watched as Link carefully approached it- and it burst to life, swinging its sword. This time, Link protected himself with his shield before stabbing his sword through the small room which was the statue's face. This made it stiffen and fall over to the side.

He then took his map and pencil out again and continued through the ruins, mapping the path along the way. Ezlo watched Venom attack some of those red-and-white-spider-monsters. Actually, it was very peaceful up on Link's head. with nothing better to do, Ezlo fell asleep again.

"Mmmmnumumumm... Oh, I couldn't eat another bite..." mumbled Ezlo in his sleep, "Let's take the rest home... Vaati, don't forget to save the wrapping for later... Zzzz..." Link giggled. Ezlo really was funny!

"Hisssy?" [Who'ssss Vaati?] asked Venom.

Ezlo woke up with a start. "Wha-? Oh my! Was I talking in my sleep or something?" asked Ezlo.

"Hisss. Hiss?" [Yesss. Ssso who'ssss Vaati?] asked Venom again.

"...My apprentice." explained Ezlo, "I taught him how to do magic, and I'm his guardian as well. Hmmm... you could say he's... unusual, really."

[Could you tell me more about thisssss Vaati? Alssso, what'sss an apprenticccce?] asked Venom.

Ezlo explained more about him to Venom, cutting anything involving turning him into a hat or turning princesses into stone while Link climbed up a ladder (Venom went up onto his shoulders at this point and soon went off again) and continued to map the area, Venom listening to Ezlo but occasionally slipping off to defeat the monsters currently bouncing around here.

Up some stairs and right, there was another magic amplifier. Link went past it and continued onwards, working together with Venom to defeat some snake-like monsters along the way. However, a switched-off statue was blocking the way forwards so Link had to backtrack to the magic amplifier, Venom racing him to it.

Up on Link's head, having satisfies Venom's questions, Ezlo thought about what else he could teach the boy before he went home with or without Vaati. He didn't even notice Link showing Venom how to shrink them all down. The boy had a real affiliation for focus magic and swordplay... Ezlo knew of a few secondary magics which would combine the two, not to mention explaining secondary magic beforehand...

Link switched the statue on and went back to the magic amplifier, though this time Venom did a little bit- a very, very little bit- of the shrinking. Ezlo still didn't notice. It didn't take Link and Venom very long to smash the statue and beat the monsters who were wrecking the ruins. The pathway was long and winding, which was probably what made it slightly easier to map than, say, Mount Crenel.

The pathway went on until it opened up to a clear area with four red statues, all of them activated, standing in a horizontal line just in front of another magical magic amplifier disguised as a tree stump. Link beat the first three, but the fourth one speedily ran forwards and blocked the pathway instead of attacking him.

Link tried to blow it up from the back, but it just didn't work. Link went over to shrink, but then Venom stopped him and managed to get to the other side of the statue, slithering past its legs and ultimately tripping it up, hence getting it out of the way.

"There'ssss more than one way to beat the red guardsss!" cheered Venom.

Link's forehead felt a little warmer than usual, and he heard Venom talking in his own language as opposed to the usual snake language. He nodded in agreement, and vaguely wondered about his forehead and how he'd just understood Venom.

Around the same time, Ezlo was just about ready to fall asleep again when he suddenly jolted fully awake- his mind detecting a psychic wave of some sort, coming directly from Link!

 _(What?! Psychic waves coming from him?)_ thought Ezlo, _(Does he even know what those are or is he just doing things he doesn't know anything about? ...I think it's the latter.)_

Link decided to try and find out if he could do other stuff with the warmth in his forehead. When he tried to make it appear again, he accidentally focused too much and sent some pink stuff flying straight at some nearby spider-monster. The second it hit that monster, the monster went poof. He quickly found that it didn't take much effort to understand Venom- in fact, Link was hearing less hisses and more words now.

"...Take that, hissy!" Venom was cheering as she defeated some more of the ruin-wreaking monsters, "Thisss issss easssy! Hisssy humansss afraid?"

Up on Link's head, Ezlo was very surprised to see that pink stuff dash out of Link's forehead. However, it was obvious to him by the shade of pink that Link's apparent psychic abilities were only just revealing themselves fully- it seemed that having Venom around and being exposed to magic had awakened some dormant abilities Link may have previously not needed to use. At least, that was Ezlo's opinion on the -now more stable- psychic waves coming from Link as he climed his way up to the entrance of a large building.

"Cool! I heard sssomething about thisss being an old fortresss once!" chattered Venom, "I think a 'fortesss' issss a large building for battlessss... At leassst, that's what Chitto ssssaid!"

"Well then," commented Ezlo, "it could be called The Fortress of Winds, couldn't it..?"

Inside the fortress, most of the space was filled with dirt, which were like brittle walls. However, there were some thin pathways through all the dirt that each led to different doors. The entire place had this 'very old' feel to it.

"Ahem!" said Ezlo, "I think now would be a good time to teach you secondary magic, Link."

"Can I try too?" asked Venom.

"Well, how about you try some basic things first..." suggested Ezlo, "Such as moving all the tiny dots on that brick over there."

While Venom cheerily tried to change the shape of the brick, Ezlo explained secondary magic to Link.

"You remember primary magic, don't you?" asked Ezlo. Link nodded, nearly sending Ezlo off his head again. "I asked you NOT to do that..." grumbled Ezlo. Link just laughed a little. "Well, secondary magic involves those magics, but not fully. As if you're just half-using them. But don't get me wrong, Boy, you need the proper control over your magic to pull it off!"

Link went to the door furthest to the left that he could get to, as the dirt blocked the entire place from there. However, something was telling Link that there was definitely more beyond all that dirt.

Through the doorway, there was a small, empty room with some stairs at the opposite end. After the other dangerous places, Ezlo found this a little fishy. "Hm," He commented, "to think the ruins were hidden within this cliff the whole time! Watch your steps, Link, Venom. There may be traps in here."

Link went up the stairs. The floor above mostly consisted of giant hole. The thin, slightly unstable pathway of floor was around the edge and currently occupied by a couple of living skeletons with glowing blue balls of light in their eye-sockets. Link curiously approached one.

"What are you waiting for, Boy?!" Asked Ezlo, annoyed.

The skeletons certainly weren't waiting around. They leaped into the air, intent on squishing Link, who took a few steps forwards upon seeing the skeletons get out of the way. Behind Link and Ezlo, Venom was catching up to them at high-speed slithering... Meaning that the skeletons tripped over her and ended up falling down the giant hole which led to the floor below.

Link, Venom and Ezlo looked down at them... Then Link threw a bomb down after them. The small explosion is exactly what made them go poof. He then went into the next section of the room. Ezlo mentally told himself off for getting distracted and continued to teach Link secondary magic.

"So you fill your sword with magic, then you need to release that energy into a concentrated beam to strike the enemy from afar!" Ezlo explained, "It really shouldn't be that hard..."

Meanwhile, Link used his shield to protect himself from some flying skulls and shot a creepy red eye target across the room. Through the closed door that shooting the eye opened were some more of the jumping skeletons.

"...so try it on those skeletons over there!" finished Ezlo as the door closed behind Link, Ezlo and Venom.

There was a look of awe on Venom's face as Link's sword began to glow with sparks of magical energy, and as the blast released from the sword defeated two of those skeletons at once. Venom began attempting to copy what Link had done and produced a few sparks, but not much. Ezlo didn't notice.

"Excellent!" Exclaimed Ezlo. _"Excellent!" Exclaimed Ezlo._

...What? Ezlo had just heard himself speak twice! The second time, however, had sounded more like an echo. Maybe that's what it was. "Another example of secondary magic is that spell I used on your bag. The movement doesn't matter, but it helps concentrate my energy. do you get it?"

In answer, Link blasted the last two skeletons. _In answer, Vaati turned Ezlo's sofa purple._

Ezlo shook his head. He thought he had just seen young, ten-year-old minish Vaati turn his sofa purple like he had those three years ago. No-one had bothered to turn it back, and besides... Ezlo quite liked the colour. That's when he realised that this felt as if he were teaching Vaati all over again. Like... _a fresh start._

It suddenly occurred to him that that could have been why Vaati did what he did. Because he wanted... a fresh start. Wait, that HAD to be Crazy Theorist Talking, right? ...Well... maybe not... But regardless of _why_ Vaati was doing it, Ezlo knew the power Vaati was after would change him irreversibly if he couldn't control it, and the chances of HIM controlling it were less than zero.

Meanwhile, Venom was enthusiastically attempting basic magic while the doors in the room opened and Link went through into another dirt-filled room. While avoiding electric-things, Link showed Venom how to do some of the primary magics that Ezlo taught him about. The little snake wasn't talking much because she was too busy experimenting with magic and Ezlo was too busy thinking to notice. He then went up a ladder to another dirt-filled room, this time with a spiky-gooey-monster in it, then through a doorway.

Link rode on some floating platforms over a bottomless-looking pit, shooting some eye-targets to make the doors open. In the room directly in front of him there were two 'sleeping' evil statues, two magic tiles, and two buttons. Venom was curios about the magic tiles, and she gasped in surprise when Link used the White Sword to split himself in two.

"How did he do that?" asked Venom to Ezlo as the two Links pushed the buttons at the same time.

"Well," Ezlo began as the two statues woke up and Link began shooting them with arrows, "that white sword he's just put away is the reforge of a sacred, powerful blade called the Picori Blade, though it has been renamed the White Sword now. Its power allows Link to create clones of himself if those magic tiles are around, because as you see, the magic tiles activate the magical energy which goes into the sword. I do believe that it has an absorbent-magical-ore-combination in its blade, as it appears to be absorbing magic from those tiles-" Ezlo caught himself, "-But anyway, that's how he did it."

Venom blinked. "Could you sssay that again with sssssimple wordsss?" the young snake asked. Sighing, Ezlo tried to simplify what he'd just said... again. A large chest appeared in the middle of Ezlo's lengthly simplification process and Venom became more interested in what was in it, much to Ezlo's relief. Inside the chest...

...was a compass. A note on it read,

'This will help you locate treasure. The needles point to treasure chests in this fortress. If used with the map, treasure chest locations will appear in the places where they are. Happy treasure-hunting!'

Treasure-hunting was NOT going to help Link save Zelda! He sighed, disappointed, and put the compass in his bag. Maybe it would be useful later. Ezlo was equally disappointed with the uselessness of such a thing for them.

"Well, let's go back to the room with the platforms." suggested Ezlo, "Maybe we'll find something useful there."

This time, back in the room with the platforms, Link went through a door to the right-hand side of the room. In this room were some snake-like monsters, another hole _(H-Hole 2?)_ in the floor which went down the original hole _(H-Hole 1?)_ in the floor and directly to the first floor... and some skulls on top of magic tiles. Venom was the only one who wasn't fazed by the sight (though that's probably justified simply by her being a snake), and the sight somehow put Ezlo's plans back into proportion- what else could he teach Link how to do?

"Yucky..." began Ezlo, "But let's get back to the point! There are other bits of secondary magic one can do with a sword, such as sending far-ranged slices of magic energy across the room. The process of doing this is similar to the sword-beam, but instead of simply releasing the energy all at once, you release it slightly slower and slash your sword either horizontally or vertically-" He paused at Link's confused facial expression at those words, "-I mean, sideways, upwards or downwards, with your sword pointing in the general direction of your target. Maybe you could try it on those snake-creatures over there?"

"Go Link!" cheered Venom, "You go make the prey-sssstealing-fake-sssnakesss go poof!"

 _(That's interesting,)_ thought Ezlo, _(it seems Venom can tell the difference between a real snake and an impostor. I wonder if all snakes -or even all animals in general- can do that or if it's just Venom...)_

Link understood that and did just that -with a horizontal slash- at the fake-snakes, making them all go poof in an instant. However, the path ahead was blocked by one of those giant blocks. After a quick look down Hole 2, he destroyed the skulls blocking the magic tiles (because not even _Link_ would touch one of those things- well, unless it would miraculously save Zelda) before using them to make a clone of himself again.

This time, Venom climbed up onto the clone's shoulders just to see what would happen... and instead of disappearing -which is what both Ezlo and Link expected- the clone blinked a bit and its blank look faded a little as it -somewhat stiffly- looked round at the little snake. Ezlo could've sworn he saw the clone smile just before the temporary magic ran out and the clone disappeared into a bunch of sparks. Venom fell to the ground, completely unhurt. Link thought about the very faint, very weak beginnings of _Curiosity_ he'd felt coming from his clone... unlike all the others, _this one_ had found emotion. Ezlo just gave up on trying to figure out what he'd just seen. Ancient magic was too complex for his own good.

Link, though still curious, made another clone to help him get that block out of the way. Like all the others except _that_ particular last clone, it had no emotion and merely went along with Link's movements before disappearing after a short amount of time. Strangely enough, Link wasn't particularly fazed by the 'other hims', probably because of their ghostly features. Past the block, which was now permanently out of the way, he pulled the lever he saw on the wall nearby, and a key dropped in from the ceiling. Link, Ezlo and Venom all watched as the key fell past Hole 2 and Hole 1 before landing with a satisfying _clink_ on the stone floor far below the trio.

"Hmn?" squawked Ezlo, "Did something just fall down, or was it my imagination? Well, we won't be getting it anytime soon..."

Link slow-ly smiled. The excited little rush he got whenever he did things like this came back. A psychic pulse was emitted from Link's mind, and in response Venom climbed up onto Link's shoulders as he took a step closer to the edge of Hole 2... Ezlo's -already wide- eyes widened. "OH, NO! LINK, DON'T- AHHHH!" It was too late. Link had leapt of the edge, and, using Ezlo as his own personal parachute again, floated neatly through Hole 1 and Hole 2, landing right in front of the key back on the first floor.

"That wasss fun!" commented Venom as Link picked up they small, silver key and put it away.

"Speak for yourself." grumbled Ezlo in response. Secretly though, it did feel good to have a companion around who actually TALKS to you.

Link personally loved doing that sort of thing- scary yet exciting. Maybe he'd bring Zelda along if he ever came back... well, if the monsters were all gone first. He thought about how much Zelda might like to have a bit of adventure in her 'rather stuffy and mostly boring -apart from you, Link- life', her words, not his, as he absentmindedly went to the long, dirt-filled corridor again and through the door next door to it, finally going directly up some stairs.

Here, there were four more skeletons and this time, Link used the gust jar to suck up their heads before giving their bodies a good whack with his sword. Naturally, they all went poof in a bunch of white smoke.

Link then went back to his thinking while Ezlo taught Venom primary magic techniques since Link 'hadn't been anywhere near as specific as he should have been in explaining something as precise as magic' -Ezlo's words this time. He wondered wether Zelda was okay, and what Vaati might be up to at the moment. He still couldn't shake the feeling that that feeling he'd gotten yesterday was something to do with the purple sorcerer.

He went up a ladder- and found himself at a dead end as all the ways forward were blocked with dirt. Venom was failing spectacularly, randomly making all sorts of magical hijinks instead of what she was supposed to be learning and Ezlo getting annoyed.

Going back to where he started this part of the fortress, he went left around the stairs this time and saw that the path was blocked by another evil-eye statue. Still wondering about Zelda, Vaati and why he seemed to be bitter at Ezlo, Link absentmindedly got around the statue and defeated a couple of skeletons before unlocking one of two locked doors; the one on the left.

On the floating platform in here, Link started thinking about how this place was _also_ like a dungeon. He vaguely wondered if the last element would be in a dungeon-like place too. Up some stairs to his left, there was a large chasm with a door on the other side and some more eye-targets. Link shot them and a bridge slid out, allowing him to cross the chasm. Link went through it, but when he tried to get through the next door... it slammed in his face.

A dark knight like the one that guarded the golden kinstone appeared behind him. Link swept around, took Ezlo off and gently tossed him to Venom, who slithered to the side as she realised Link was about to do something awesome. Link faced off against the creature, dodging the slow-but-heavy swings of its sword before neatly slicing through the air with his own sword, sending powerful magical beams at it. The boy dodged and slashed with a strange sort of confidence and serousness that just wasn't very... Link-like. It was as if he _still_ didn't quite understand that this wasn't a big dream...

When Ezlo caught a glimpse of Link's eyes, he realised something was very off at the moment... as they were shining an electric-blue.

So... who was that attacking with those skills?! Link?! A ghost couldn't do that... Maybe... Maybe... _(That's Crazy Theorist Talking!)_ Ezlo reminded himself, _(That's just Link... That's just Link...)_

Ezlo didn't know this, but he was absolutely right. _That wasn't Link over there._

As he began fighting, Link felt a strange presence burst from his heart and release an ancient energy that flowed through his mind... Someone else had taken the lead, was battling instead. Was it Guardian Spirit? Regardless, the magic that was currently flowing through him sliced down the creature's unprotected back and it went poof.

Link found that energy to be a bit tiring, unusual. It wasn't something he was very used to. Knowing that Ezlo and Venom would end up worried wether he did this or not, he closed his eyes and focused his mind, in a sense to speak with the heart.

Ezlo and Venom simply saw him go white, pure white, and collapse.

* * *

 _"They say that when you speak with the heart, you speak with a spirit of long ago." Link's father once said._

"H-Hello." Link greeted the spirit he saw there, in the white place of wherever-this-happened-to-be.

It seemed full of sparks , and magic, and things like that. The spirit looked a lot like Link, but more a teenager, really, though he seemed wiser and more knowing than the teenager he took the physical form of. The physical form was pale and ghostly, except for his electric blue eyes. These were bright and clear.

Link himself was looking into that place, though he wasn't actually there. He was feeling the warmth in his head again... Maybe the pink stuff was something to do with here? He'd been here before a few times, but never before had he'd felt Guardian Spirit's regret like this, or that strange _Binding_ that was somewhere there too.

* * *

Ezlo panicked. "OH NO! The illness!" he screeched.

"Isss Link sssick? Isss there medi-ssstuff?" asked Venom.

"Yes and yes!" replied Ezlo, rummaging through Link's bag with his beak and with Venom, who was looking around inside the back for anything that looked like medicine. The purple bottle was surprisingly elusive... "Why now, Link, why NOW of all times..!?"

* * *

The voice of Guardian Spirit wasn't quite a voice, exactly. He formed words in a similar way that Link formed words- with simple mind-pushes, but not really. Momentarily Link wondered if the mind-pushing was also part of the pink-suff and Venom-speaking-hylian, before going back to what was actually happening. Unlike Link's 'inner voice' though, the spirit actually formed _words_.

 _Link! I... need to tell you who I really am now, don't I?_

Link was wondering about a lot of things, but mostly about what had just happened with that amour-creature. But yes, who Guardian Spirit really was also happened to be something he'd been confused about for a while before all of this had began.

 _How do I even put it... well, I am the Spirit of the Hero, the one Vale talked about. I'm glad he figured it out through that vision I sent him._

If Link were physically there, he would be tilting his head. There was something he wasn't being told.

 _... I get what you mean. Did you pay attention in history this time? At least for the part about the Hero of the Skies? About the legend of my enemy? ... This is all my fault. One little mistake, one forgetful moment, and the rest of history is affected._ _Perhaps ruined._

Link thought he got all of that. If he were the hero, and Zelda the princess, did that make Vaati the bad guy? Well, Vaati was already, just like Zelda was always a princess. He didn't get what Spirit meant about one little mistake, but he figured he could just check a history book later. Then what about the **_rage_** that wasn't Vaati at all..? Like Spirit wasn't him at all..?

 _... The **rage** is that of my enemy. I am here to help guide you through your destiny- ... yes, like the hero before you. ... Link... my name doesn't really matter now. You won't be here soon. Just... let's talk again someday._

Link hoped to talk to him again soon as well. It seemed clear that to get one big answer he'd need one big question. The big answer would be able to help him figure out how to make everybody happy at once, so he'd need an equally big question...

* * *

Venom finally dragged the right medicine out of Link's bag. "I have the purple bottle!" she announced.

"Gimme that, quick!" loudly instructed Ezlo as Venom rolled it over to him. _(Curse this stupid curse...)_ thought Ezlo as he tried to open the bottle without spilling the stuff everywhere. Link's psychic waves were running rampant and Venom seemed extra excitable at the moment. Through the Power of Panicking, Ezlo finally managed to knock the cap of the bottle open with his beak and read the label. 'pour a spoonful into fainted person's mouth.' it read. Ezlo poured a little of the stuff into Link's mouth... then a little more... then a little more...

The place Link saw faded to black as he opened his -now black again- eyes and saw Ezlo and Venom looking at him. Their worry quickly became relief. Link was now more-or-less completely back to normal again and he smiled to both of his current companions to show it.

"You're OKAY!" cheered Ezlo, hopping around happily along with Venom's happy celebration-dance-thing.

"Hissy!" [The boy sssmilesss!] cheered Venom right along with him.

Link giggled at their antics... but realised the warm feeling in his head was gone. Now that Link thought about it, it felt a bit squashed. A bit off. To top off the proof, Venom had gone back to snake-language. His smile faded. Ezlo and Venom stopped celebrating instantly, and Ezlo realised the psychic pulses being emitted from Link were gone.

"ARE you okay?!" asked Ezlo. Link nodded, deciding it would come back eventually. With that he put Ezlo back on his head and walked through the now-open door, continuing with his adventure to save Zelda. Past a room with some spiky-spinny traps, there was a high corridor with a loose bit of wall. Link promptly got Venom out of the way and blew it up, revealing yet another dirt-filled room with a large treasure chest right in front of him. Inside it was a pair of -conveniently Link-sized- brown gloves with hardened metal finger-parts which were in the shape of claws. Like most other useful-things-in-big-chests, it had a label attached to it.

'These are the Mole Mitts. They are specifically designed for digging through all the dirt which will no doubt be here. Use your magic abilities to strengthen your arms through the mole-mitts. They will circle the flow of magic energy through you while charged with their own magically-infused energy -please don't get them confused- so will prevent any lasting damage to your arms or wrists from all the hi-speed digging -I _know_ you'll be fast. Be sure not to bury your companions, no matter how much they get confused or cross!'

...Link was beginning to believe whoever left these things here could see the future. How ELSE could they get everything right? Ezlo was thinking much the same, though he half-thought it was Crazy Theorist Talking all over again. Link also thought that he would like to say thanks to whoever-had-left-them-here (if they were still here) if he ever met them. He slipped on the mole-mitts right away.

"Careful with that!" ordered Ezlo, "I don't want to get DIRTY!"

"Hisssy hisss." [Pleassse try not to get dirt in my mouth.] said Venom. Ezlo had to translate, after which Link nodded with a mischievous smile... Venom -actually quite wisely- curled up around Link's shoulders again.

And then he was off like a hi-speed-super-speed digging machine, sending dirt flying everywhere except Venom and his own respective faces. Unfortunately for Ezlo, he just so happened to be right in the line of fire and was wildly dodging dirt in every direction so that he wouldn't get dirty. It took a couple of minutes to get through it all, after which there was still dirt everywhere but just not in brittle walls anymore. Link was grinning a bit wildly as he opened the treasure chest that he'd dug up. Inside was a large silver rupee- worth a hundred rupees! How exciting! Link left the room, somewhat over-excited and humming to himself.

"Hissy hissy?" [How did he do it ssso fasst?] asked Venom to Ezlo.

"Don't ask me... Just get used to it..." replied Ezlo to Venom.

Right at the end of the high-corridor, he found that the ledge dropped off exactly where he'd started this section of Wind Fortress. After jumping down, he found a set of stairs which led to a big chest on the way out. Inside this one was a magical map of the fortress and all of its floors. Link looked at it before putting it away. After heading back to the room with the dead end of dirt, he had a fun -if fast- time digging away all the dirt around, revealing that there was a large, imposing door locked up with giant chains and an equally giant lock- no doubt the door to the element!

Back at the first dirt-filled corridor of The Fortress of Winds, Link excitedly dug his way through all the dirt to this right at high-speed, either ignoring or simply not hearing (it depends on who you ask) Ezlo's complaints about getting dirty. Venom was quietly listening and thinking that the whole situation was funny. He found a treasure chest with a blue, knowledgeable kinstone and also found a fifth doorway that looked identical to the other four.

Inside the room, the door slammed shut behind them and two skeleton-faced humanoid monster wearing grass-green robes appeared, one on either side of Link. They teleported around and tried to blast Link with offensive magic. _(Apparently, it works with no emotion at all.)_ Observed Ezlo.

Link kept on chasing them -with Ezlo on his head and Venom round his shoulders- but got nowhere because the wizard-monsters were forever teleporting away. He blasted them with sword beams, though that didn't seem to do much due to the wizards' magical-cursed-spirit nature. However, the more Link channelled his magic energy, the more warm his head seemed to become. Link was trying to access the pink stuff again to see if he could blast the wizards with that.

Just like that, as if a dam had broken, the beginnings of Link's psychic power seemed to burst at once like a pinky-red wave that exploded outwards from the depths of Link's mind, sending Ezlo and Venom flying to the edge of the room -luckily, Venom landed on Ezlo and Ezlo felt very little pain due to his hat nature-, also causing the two wizard-monsters to go poof.

As an aftereffect, it shocked Ezlo and Venom into complete silence. Venom because of how awesome it was to be sent flying by pink stuff and Ezlo because that wave had been slightly more red than pink- this meant that Link's psychic potential went beyond what _eighty percent of the ten percent of people who could materialise psychic energy_ were capable of... and then if one combined THAT with his already far above average magic potential AND his capability for learning stuff...

 _(... ... ...Just WHAT is that boy capable of doing..?!)_ thought Ezlo, _(I'm scared to find out...)_

Link had paused after his outburst of psychic energy, though the comforting pulse that was the warmth in his head steadied and relaxed after a few minutes of complete silence, of a starstruck Venom and a blown-away-by-simple-logic Ezlo. Nobody had moved from their end positions since the psychic wave burst, so when Link finally snapped out of his blank-mind-recoil (that tends to happen after a burst of energy like that. The more concentrated the blast, the longer the recoil), he spotted Ezlo and Venom at the edge of the room and rushed over to them, not noticing the small chest which appeared after the wizards had gone poof.

The look on his face practically cried, "Are y-you okay?" Strangely enough, both Ezlo and Venom could practically hear Link's voice even though he didn't say anything.

"That wasss AWESSSOME!" cheered Venom at the top of her voice while excitedly moving everywhere, "Mr. Ezlo and I are fine!"

"I second that." replied Ezlo, picking himself up and leaping back onto Link's head. Venom got to the chest first and flipped it open with her tail before looking inside.

"Oooooh! There'sss sssome pretty and sssparkly gemsss in here!" commented Venom.

"Those are rupees. Hyrule's currency." replied Ezlo, looking into the chest too after Link caught up and put the rupees away in his wallet, which he then put in his dimensional-hole bag.

Back outside, Link got digging to the left this time, glad that his psychic power -which he'd officially called 'Pink Stuff'- was now working again. He made a mental note to remember not to talk to Guardian Spirit in front of people again. There was nothing past this dirt, so Link just headed back to the last door he'd passed by.

Ezlo quickly got extremely annoyed with getting EVEN MORE DIRTY than before, but before he could tell Link off they ended up through the door right at the other end of the hall to the door they'd just left through, where the room was half-collapsed and held nothing but hard, cold rubble. That reminded Venom about primary magic and so she tried to use it again, causing a minor explosion of sparks and getting the room rather a bit less stable than it had been before.

So instead of his original intention to tell Link off for getting him all dirty, Ezlo warned, "Let's get out of here before we all get crushed!"

After leaving the unstable room, Link went through the only door he hadn't been through yet, the one to the right of the door leading to the unstable room. There was a hole in the floor, another electric thing and a lever on each side of the room. On the right-hand side of the room, there was a treasure chest. The whole room was like a corridor with one door on the side Link was on and another door on the other side which was firmly closed.

Ezlo went on a long rant about being annoyed about getting dirty and how was he supposed to properly clean himself as a semi-absorbant hat and how annoying it was that he was getting dirty and how was he supposed to properly clean himself as a semi-absorbant hat and how annoying it was that he was getting dirty and how was he supposed to properly clean himself as a semi-absorbant hat and how annoying it was that he was getting dirty and how was he supposed to properly clean himself as a semi-absorbant hat and how annoying it was that he was getting dirty and how was he supposed to properly clean himself as a semi-absorbant hat and how annoying it was that he was... you get the picture.

Venom took a nap on Link's shoulders while Link just tuned out Ezlo's repetitive rant and avoided the red electric thing, opening the chest and getting another blue -but this time innocent- kinstone. He then pulled the lever on the same side of the room, opening the door opposite to the one Link just came through. Upon pulling the other lever, another chest appeared which also had an innocent blue kinstone. However, it wasn't the other half. After that, Link went through the door, but that's also when Ezlo turned up the volume of his complaining to the maximum.

"...and it's so annoying that I'm getting dirty and how am I supposed to properly clean myself as a semi-absorbant hat and ARE YOU LISTENING, BOY?!" yelled Ezlo.

"I a-am now." replied Link.

"I TOLD you I didn't want to get DIRTY!" Howled the noisy hat, and now all of us except Venom are covered in DIRT!"

"..." Link just looked up at him.

"OH, DON'T YOU PLAY THAT GAME WITH ME!" Shouted Ezlo.

"..." Link slow-ly smiled.

"WHAT?!" Screeched Ezlo, "WHAT ARE YOU SNICKERING ABOUT?!"

"I-I win." Link replied, eyes twinkling with mischievousness.

"What?" asked Ezlo, bemused, "HOW do YOU win WHAT?"

"..." Silence is the only explanation he got.

"GAHH! I think you're driving me insane!" Cried Ezlo. _"GAHH! I think you're driving me insane!" Cried Ezlo._

It was as if he could hear himself, but that was when he realised what was happening- he was doing the EXACT same things he'd done with Vaati. Even though he and Link couldn't be more different from each other (actually, they could. One of them could be right-handed or not be able to use magic), Ezlo was teaching both of them the same way- and getting annoyed at both way too easily.

Then his eyed widened as he remembered what happened last time he'd uttered that sentence. Vaati had seemed upset and stared at him with wide eyes. Then Ezlo had broken their gaze and Vaati had left without a word.

What would happen this time?

Link didn't stare at him. In fact, he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Ezlo, exasperated.

"Y-you!" replied Link, grinning from pointy ear to pointy ear. Ezlo promptly flopped over like a floppy cap.

That was just it. Link was _not_ Vaati. _Nobody_ was even _close_ to being Vaati, because Vaati was _different_ , and it had taken Vaati stealing his magic cap, turning HIM into a hat and himself into a human form, a failed encounter with Vaati, one crazy adventure and one even crazier kid for Ezlo to finally realise that actually, he _missed_ his apprentice. Not the 'Vaati' he thought existed, but the _real_ Vaati, the one he'd rescued from that river all those years ago. The confusing, conflicting, complicated minish that if he ever saw again...

Forget telling him off. It wasn't his fault. If he ever saw Vaati again, Ezlo would apologise, because it was _ALL HIS OWN FAULT._ Not for making the cap... but for _what went wrong_. (That last bit in italics, readers, is up to your interpretation.)

Still giggling, Link pulled out the picnic blanket then and there during Ezlo's big reverie, as well as getting the packed lunches (he saw with surprise a few raw eggs in there as well, with a label reading 'for Venom') and the water. He had decided that now of all times was a good time for lunch.

Waking Venom (who had amazingly stayed asleep during all of Ezlo's yelling) up, and snapping Ezlo out of his reverie in the process, Link made sure everybody got some lunch before packing away the lunch equipment and climbing up a nearby ladder.

Up here, there was a metal-slime monster and an electric thing. Link just dug around in the same over-excited manner he had before -successfully getting Ezlo even MORE dirty- and found a bitter red kinstone. Through a doorway on the far side of the room, there was a small room with a closed door and two buttons to either side of it. Pushing each button one at a time proved to be futile, so Venom pressed one and Link pressed the other to open it.

However, he still went through a doorway on the right just in case he found anything useful. In fact, he did- there was a familiar hole on the floor and an 'off' statue in front of a lever. As this was a dead end, Link went through the door he and Venom had opened, where there was a magic amplifier. With Ezlo still a little light-headed, Link did the shrinking himself. Ezlo said nothing upon realising this, because he'd quite honestly had had enough of yelling and a lot of thinking today. He just listened the the psychic pulse coming from Link and fell asleep deeper than Venom had earlier on Link's head.

Meanwhile, Link just switched the statue on, went through a passageway, unblocked a passageway and went all the way back to the magic amplifier to grow again and obliterate the statue in the way of the lever. Just as he pulled the lever, Ezlo started snoring and a key fell down the hole, so Link went down after it. Link used Ezlo as a parachute again, which woke Ezlo up. Back on the first floor, Link picked up the key. Venom decided she wanted to sleep a bit again and curled up on Link's shoulders to do just that.

"You're full of surprises..." sighed Ezlo. Link just giggled again. _(Scratch that, he's just plain scary at times.)_

In reality, Link just thought Ezlo was funny, an opinion Venom shared.

Link went through the long corridor at the start of this place again, went back to the middle room again and used his key to unlock a door again... though this time, it was the right-hand-side door. The door went up, as usual taking the key with it. Through the door was a very long corridor mostly filled with bottomless pit. Near Link was a lever, which he pulled. A bride slid out to cross the massive bottomless pit, but slid in again just as fast. He started feeling that excited feeling again as he pulled the lever again and used the pegasus boots to cross the fast-moving bridge, barely making it across.

"Phew...! We barely made it!" gasped Ezlo, "I was certain we'd run out of time!"

Link turned to go up a set of stairs, which led into a room with three, gigantic, black hands with glowing blue edges. Link stared blankly at them. Then he tilted his head. There was something about what Link was 'saying' even though he wasn't speaking that made Ezlo reply, "They don't have bodies... These are just floating hands..." Link promptly drew his sword and thirty seconds later the hands had gone poof. Ezlo blinked.

To put it blankly, what happened next was pretty normal dungeon stuff. So long story short, Link ended up in front of two holes leading to the floor below, with Venom still asleep and Ezlo close to falling asleep. Link, after a look down the holes and a bit of thoughtful consideration, leapt down the one on the right, which just so happened to be the right door in the sense that it had the giant chest with the giant key for the giant door with the giant padlock and giant chains in it.

Despite Link's 'precautions', it really _was_ pure fluke that he ended up jumping down the right right hole. After that, they headed back to the big door and unlocked it. Past a short corridor and another doorway, there was an ancient, truly gigantic floating statue-head with two floating statue-hands. The statue-hands each had an eye half as tall as Link in its palm, and those eyes were _minish-sized small_ compared to the rest of it.

So naturally, Venom woke up at that particular moment and looked at the mechanical... thing... with awe. "Wow... did the wind people make thisss thing with minisssh help? That'sss ssso cool!"

The 'Thing', as Link would now refer to it -for Ezlo, that would be the ' _Mechanical_ Thing'- did not seem too friendly. The second it raised a giant fist, Link took out his bow and started shooting at the other hand's eye while simultaneously attempting not to get smashed into a pancake.

"DON'T GET CRUSHED!" encouragingly yelled Ezlo, "I DON'T WANT TO BE SMASHED!" _(That ATTITUDE...)_

"Go Link! You can beat the... Thing!" encouraged Venom.

"No, the _Mechanical_ Thing." corrected Ezlo automatically.

"What doesss 'me-can-ni-cal' mean?" asked Venom.

Ezlo had to explain while Link ran around trying to attack the Thing's -or _Mechanical_ Thing's- Obvious Weak Point. You would expect even Link to be pretty annoyed by the fact that his companions were sitting around talking while HE did all the dangerous stuff but he was really very occupied with 'not-being-turned-into-a-Link-pancake' at the moment.

Finally, the left hand of the Thing experienced a mini explosion and dropped to the ground smoking -regular grey smoke, not white smoke- ,leaving the other hand exposed to Link's relentless shooting. Unfortunately, he was getting low on arrows... on the bright side, with both hands down the Thing's head dropped to the ground as well... umm... so what was he supposed to do? Go INSIDE the Thing through that convenient minish-sized passage where it's 'mouth' was? ...yes?

Ezlo is the one who spotted the magic amplifiers in the back corners. "LINK! USE THOSE MAGIC AMPLIFIERS IN THE BACK CORNERS BEHIND THE MECHANICAL THING AND FAST AND WHO CARES WHAT 'MECHANICAL' MEANS AT THE MOMENT?!"

Link responded by practically leaping into the portal, Ezlo, Venom and Link all doing the runes at the same time so fast that nobody noticed the others -or, in Venom's case, themselves- help shrink them. From there Link managed to get to the inside of the Thing, where there were six pillars, one of which had a glowing blue lump on it. Link sliced the glowing blue lump with his sword -holding his bow in his other hand just in case- until it exploded in a puff of regular smoke.

That's when a small, flying, also mechanical bug-thing -hence now called the Bug-Thing or the _Mechanical_ Bug-Thing- which picked up Link -and subsequently the other two- and left them outside the Thing, which had somehow fixed itself.

Link made sure to grab his bow again and ended up running around trying not to get crushed by the Thing... again. This time, the Thing started shooting thick laser beams which burnt holes into the old stone floor as WELL as trying to crush Link and company.

"EEP! I think thossse light thingies don't look very niccce!" Hollered Venom in the middle of the chaos.

"You THINK?!" howled Ezlo over the Thing, its laser and Venom.

Honestly, Link was the only one NOT making any noise. Said boy was still trying to shoot the eyes with what limited arrows he had left while avoiding being flattened while avoiding being fried-like-a-fried-Link-egg. However, the hands of the Thing were constantly fixing themselves as it was taking too long for Link to partly-explodonate them.

Finally, he decided to take a risk- a BIG risk. He took out his shield and held it in front of him just as a laser beam came buzzing at him...

"LINK!" yelled Ezlo and Venom.

 _"Link... have you ever noticed how light bounces off shiny things?" Zelda had asked once._

 _(Do b-burning beams of light b-bounce off shiny things too?)_ Link thought now.

...then it bounced of the shield and hit its own weak point instead, finally making its 'head' fall to the ground again. Link rushed to the magic amplifier and just about managed to get into the Thing once more. However, this time the area was filled with dirt. For once Ezlo was actually glad of Link's super-fast-digging-skills. Or was that just the mole mitts taking effect? Regardless, Link had soon found the weak pillar again and managed to make it explode. He coughed a bit because of the smoke, but it really wasn't all that bad. The Bug-Thing picked Link and company up and got them all back outside again.

After a quick growth to normal size again, Link realised he'd run out of arrows, and Ezlo did too. Unfortunately, the Thing was not waiting around for Link to get some arrows.

"LINK!" screeched Ezlo over the Thing's smashing and lasers, "FOCUS YOUR MAGIC THROUGH THE BOW!"

Running around trying not to be squashed or fried, Link was not really in the sort of mood to learn stuff. Sure, he was absolutely terrified, though the terror was the fuel for whatever else was making him able to keep his head together in a situation like this.

" _FOCUS YOUR MAGIC THROUGH THE BOW TO FORM ARROWS!_ " yelled Ezlo even louder, though Link still wasn't paying attention to him while trying to do the laser-reflecting thing again. The Mechanical Thing seemed to have caught on to his tactics, because every time Link stood still it would attempt to smash him like a pancake.

"Mr. Ezlo hasss sssomething to sssay!" added Venom, though in trying to help she accidentally made things worse by adding the extra noise to the chaos of the battle.

To top it off, the Thing suddenly slammed the floor with both its hands and sent many of tiny, annoying, harmless-but-slows-Link-down-monster bugs from the ceiling. So now, Ezlo and Venom were shouting at Link to listen, the Thing was still shooting laser beams and trying to squash Link, the Monster-Bugs everywhere were getting in the way all over the place and Link finally pulled his last resort- an attempt at that Pink-Stuff-Blast-Thing he'd done on the wizard-skeleton monsters.

With the warmth in his head building on top of all the physical running around and magical energy channelling needed for that magical-arrow thing Ezlo was yelling about, Link could barely handle the over-power. It was bursting his current limits to the limit of the limits, so Guardian Spirit ended up joining the battle and helping Link by temporarily keeping his Pink-Stuff -AKA, psychic power pulse- under control...

...and in all the chaos came a huge, pinky-reddy and slightly orangey blast of psychic power which sent everything monster going poof, everything mechanical crashing to the floor and everything Ezlo and Venom flying to the edge of the room. Also, it left Link extremely dizzy and Guardian Spirit out of commission for now due to messing with the living world too much.

However, now that everything was simple and quiet again, Link was in his element. Putting away everything else, slinging his shield over his back and holding only his sword in his left hand, he shrank at a magic amplifier and ran into the Thing for the third and final time. Inside, he got past all the dirt and stabbed his sword directly into the glowing blue lump on the final weak pillar.

The effect was practically instantaneous! The entirety of the Thing simply exploded all over the place, sending Link flying sky-high... He automatically reached for Ezlo, only to realise that the noisy hat was back on the ground with Venom.

Back on the ground, with Venom asleep due to over-excitement (the little snake just was _not_ an adventurer at heart), Ezlo gasped as he saw Link seem to recover and shrink, then soon after the little thumb-sized dot which was currently Link had entered the Mechanical Thing, it started smoking all over the place and simply fell apart. Apparently, the ancient piece of technology was just that: An ancient piece of technology.

However, reality caught up with Ezlo at once- Link was currently flying up, and soon would be plummeting DOWN, without HIM to use as a parachute. Using the Power of Panicking for the second time that day, Ezlo hopped in great leaps to the magic amplifier Link was currently plummeting towards, and frantically started messing with runes and putting bits and pieces together so that when Link fell over there, he grew back to his regular size near instantaneously, which in turn prevented him from getting seriously hurt.

Blinking, the small boy looked around, before spotting Ezlo and smiling happily. Ezlo -somewhat- smiled right back. "Next time, Boy, TRY not to nearly die!" grumbled Ezlo. Link just giggled and put him back on his head before rushing to the side of the room to see if Venom was okay, ignoring the remains of the Thing along the the way.

After seeing that Venom was, in fact, okay and just needed to sleep off all the excitement, Link carefully carried the little snake in his arms and finally noticed the stairs leading to the top of the Fortress of Winds. Surely, surely, after all the trouble they'd gone through to get this far, the Wind Element would be waiting for them at the top?

Despite why they'd even come here in the first place, both Link and Ezlo really were blown away by the stunning view of the rainbow sunset up at the top of the cliff the fortress was built into. Sleeping around the boy, the hat, and the snake were multicoloured birds, two fiery red ones, a stunning yellow one and a rich, ocean blue one.

With the winds gently swirling, the birds and Venom gently snoozing, and the sun gently setting, one could forget all their problems and simply sit down to watch the gentle sunset and relax with a couple of sandwiches. Ezlo was lulled to sleep by the gentleness of it all right there on Link's head. Also responding to the natural lullaby, Link gently tucked Venom and Ezlo up on opposite ends of his picnic blanket, before falling asleep himself as the last of the sun set over the horizon.

Nobody noticed that the element they'd come so far to find was nowhere to be seen.


	15. Chapter 15: Four Vaatis and a Cat

**There's all sorts of things happening in real life so this this story has been updated late, and probably will continue to be late. I really can't sort out when I'll be able to post the chapters after these, especially with the idea-blank I've been having... Anyway, let's see what Vaati gets up to today! So,**

 _in the last chapter..._

 _Link, Ezlo and Venom soon found their way to The Fortress of Winds, where Link began figuring out how to use his Pink Stuff -AKA psychic powers-, Ezlo taught Link about secondary magic and Venom learned about primary magic from Ezlo and Link, though ultimately she ended up making magical explosions instead. While teaching Link, Ezlo was deeply reminded of the time he had once taught Vaati with the exact same methods- and when he got extremely annoyed at Link, the ten-year-old boy's reaction hit Ezlo hard as the hat realised that it really was all of his fault that Vaati was the way he was now. However, Link decided to talk to Guardian Spirt, but to the others he just passed right out! Spirt told Link the truth of his identity and of the **rage** of his enemy. The medicine in Link's bag seemed to have the side effect of suppressing Link's psychic powers, though they soon came back in a pinky-red explosion. After an incredibly tough battle with the Thing -or the Mechanical Thing- Link, Ezlo and Venom were all lulled to sleep at the rainbow sunset of the top of the fortress, but the Wind Element was nowhere to be seen..._

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Four Vaatis and a Cat**

Vaati woke up and stretched out a bit. The bed in the king's private chamber really was luxurious. Speaking of the king, he was currently a stone statue to the side of the room right next to Zelda- naturally, Vaati had thought it best not to give the king a chance to mess up his plans.

Thinking about where those legends claimed the elements were, Vaati got out of the bed and paced around the room. _(In the ancient shrine deep in the forest named after us, in a cave of fire which is larger than large at the top of the top-west mountain, in the fortress of the people who guide the skies, in the frozen depths of a goddess's lake.)_ Vaati recited in his mind. Now that he was here, it seemed obvious where all of those elements were. Two of them had been found already and Link was no doubt on his way to the third one.

 _(What will Link do,)_ mused Vaati, still pacing, _(once he's fixed the sword? Try to stop me, of course. My own magic would never work against the steel of the elements, but the light force, which was made with the help of a goddess or so they say... With that, I will certainly stand a chance against him.)_

Adding up all the hours he'd need to extract the light force and (hopefully) convert it to his branches of magic, he realised that he would need at least a full day, possibly more give or take a few hours, to fully convert the light force, not to mention bring its power under control. Link had to be stopped at all costs- his entire plan was at stake here!

"Now, what am I going to do to stop-Link-stopping-me-get-the-light-force?" asked Vaati out loud to himself -again, the old habit of his- "I've got to slow him down... hmmm... so what better way to do it than by turning this huge maze of a castle into a confusing nest of traps? He may know his way around, but I can twist things. Change things. I will fix this place up while he goes and gets those elements- if he can survive that, he can survive this."

Thinking about where to start, Vaati de-stonified the king and quickly re-possessed him. On the way down a corridor, Vaati heard a terrifying, horrifying, sound that sent vibrations running through every inch of his spiritual form, making his eye and the king's eyes widen with shock and fear...

"Meooow..." came the petrifying sound from just behind him...

Vaati slowly turned the king's body around to face...

A large, snow-white _CAT_ with bright orangey-red eyes and gleaming, razor-sharp canines.

"Meooow..." meowed the cat, "You arrren't the king..."

An ancestral fear started to make Vaati panic- while it's true that minish have many predators, including snakes, some lizards, cuccoos and general other creatures, CATS are by far the worst. Intelligent (unlike cuccoos), unreasonable (unlike snakes) and mostly nocturnal (unlike most lizards), CATS have been hunting minish and their close biological cousins, mice and rats, since day one (unlike general other creatures)- hence the ancestral fear.

"Forrr yourrr inforrrmation..." dangerously purred the cat, "My name is Sielema." [Seye(rhymes with pie)-ah-lee-ma]

"D-D-D-Do you know who I am?" asked Vaati.

"No. But I know you arrre minish..." mewed Sielema, back arching, tail swishing and claws extending, "...and I am going to prrrrrove it!" with that, the cat pounced at Vaati so his natural instinct was RUN AWAY!

So run away he did, Sielema seeming a lot larger than she really was and Vaati seeming a lot smaller-

 _"CAT!" screamed Vale, pulling Vaati away from the terrifying, terrible, tabby-coated beast hoping to eat them for dinner-_

 **CLATTER!** Down went a picture frame or three as Vaati accidentally banged the king's elbows against them in his rush to get away from the CAT, who was unfazed by all the noise-

 _"MEOW!" boomed the tabby-coated CAT with the enormous emerald orbs with slit pupils, seeming to let minish go only to scoop them back up again-_

 **CRASH!** "MEOW!" A large decorative vase got kicked by the king's foot in Vaati's attempt to escape Sielema. Said albino cat narrowly dodged the flying vase, meowing loudly in slight panic, and it smashed behind her-

 _CRACK! A temporary shelter was flattened by one of the creature's paws easily. The seemingly-overpowered being didn't even notice in its pursuit of the twilight minish-_

 **BANG!** Vaati, now royally terrified, dashed through a door and slammed it behind him... Unfortunately for him, it just so happened to be the _KITCHEN_ door, which had a cat-flap in it, allowing Sielema to easily and somewhat gracefully jump through without even a pause.

Also unfortunately for Vaati, the kitchen just so happened to have quite a few people in it- and all of them were staring at him. Due to all the excitement, he didn't notice.

 _("CAT! CAT! CAT!")_ all the voices in his head were screaming at once and he could barely think properly and he was panicking crazily and-

 _Vale and one-year-old Vaati narrowly escaped the cat, collapsing into an abandoned (hopefully) burrow just as day broke. Neither could sleep, though both were too exhausted to move-_

 **SMASH!** Crashing into a pile of plates by accident due to the king's body not moving as naturally as his own, Vaati bolted around the corner of the kitchen, kitchen people skittering out of the way in shock ("Isn't the albino cat _friendly?_ ") and confusion.

 _("GET A GRIP ON YOURSELVES!")_ Vaati screeched at himself in his head, drowning out the dangerous hissing of Sielema and the clinking and crunching of the various unfortunate kitchen people scattering out of the way of the drama with his very own inner voice, the sort he himself spoke within his own mind but still heard just as clearly as the rest-

 _Even back then, he'd hated being so helpless. So WEAK._

Well, he was neither of those things now! _("There are at least TEN ways we can knock out Sielema! STOP RUNNING AWAY IN FEAR! ME_ _INCLUDED!")_

In that exact moment, Sielema leaped directly at Vaati's face, claws outstretched, joints bent. Almost seeming like an albino tiger, she leaped high, high into the air, almost five times her hight, just as Vaati sent a him-sized spinning whirlwind which picked up a lot of the smashed plates, even more non-smashed plates, and Sielema.

After the cat had been thoroughly spun, the wind dissipated and Sielema came crashing down... So Vaati promptly picked up the first random frying pan he saw (sometimes, that's the more logical course of action than focusing magic into the shape of a weapon. Especially if your worst fear is probably out to kill you) and-

 **BANG!** went the frying pan- right on Sielema's head.

Though maybe not quite as hard as it sounded at the time.

Vaati breathed heavily in exhilaration, the king's lips curling into a somewhat unsettling smile along with those of Vaati's spiritual form. Dropping the frying pan, he picked up the defeated (for now *_^) cat and left the room, leaving all the baffled kitchen people behind.

* * *

There was a lot of silence. Then a lot of murmuring. What was going on? The people in the room confirmed what they'd just seen...

There was Confusion. Disbelief. Realisation. Then there was only one emotion in the room- Fear.

Everybody knew the _real_ king _LOVES_ his precious cat!

So who was this doppelgänger? _Vaati?!_

* * *

 _(What a... great relief!)_ Thought Vaati, holding _That Cat_ by her tail and walking to the castle dungeons. He hoped she hadn't succeeded in messing up his plans... Either way, in order to really do large-scale changes on the castle, he would first need a map. Or however many maps this castle had. Naturally, he'd still need to see the whole place face-to-wall first. As Vaati had already seen most of the castle, that wouldn't be a problem.

 _("Now THAT... That was awesome!")_ cheered the malevolent voice in Vaati's mind. Vaati's spiritual form's lips curled into a dark, almost -yet not quite bitter- malevolent smile...

* * *

There, in Vaati's consciousness, was Vaati's own spiritual form -though he was half-there, half not. This form was exactly like Vaati's true physical form, it was how he saw himself- as himself, as he was.

Directly behind this form was another, near identical form... though this one wore no hat. The second form was more like a shadow, but not truly one... perhaps one could say the form was more like a ghost. A ghost with no emotion nor expression... However, the second form's eye was clear- a deep, shining red with an aqua-green pupil.

To the right of the second form was a third, a strong form this was. The third form was held up by no cloak nor hat, instead stepping back a bit in order to avoid a pure black mist forming by the others. The third form may his been strong, but also afraid- no, not quite afraid... again, the form's eye was clear- a more pink-red, with a wider pupil as so to make the world brighter- even if that was also an illusion in a sense.

To the left of the second form was a fourth form- a somewhat darker form, though the fourth seemed near identical to the others. The dark mist clung tightly near this form, as within it was pain, bitterness... a core of fear. Though this form was at the moment by far the strongest, this form was also the weakest. The eye of this form was a sharp, iridescent blood-red.

* * *

Vaati tried to ignore the voice, but he couldn't help laughing just a little as the defeated cat was very firmly locked in one of the cells.

Satisfied, he headed back up the stairs and walked along the castle's corridors. It really wasn't very long before he came across a particular soldier- that one who was particularly serious about his job with the well-polished spear. No wonder, according to the king's memories (which sadly had no map information since the king never used them), that everyone called him 'Serious Sam'.

"Where can I get the maps of this castle?" inquired Vaati in what he hoped was an authoritative tone of voice.

"Well, the new recruits each got a map each just now from Captain Lucy." explained Serious Sam, "She gave each one of those recruits a map for each floor of this castle, can you believe it? I have no idea what the captain's up to this time but I do believe she said something along the lines of 'You recruits had better find your way to the top tower in ten! If you're not there by then you can kiss your career goodbye, Newbies!'. Anyway, they all set off in different directions despite Milly's attempt to get them to work as a team. Speaking of those other four recruits, I think said something about going to the entrance to figure things out from there... though he _was_ holding his map up-side down... I hope that will help, your majesty! Also, I'll give you an update about the light force search soon."

"Thank you very much." replied Vaati, next going to the throne room. As what Serious Sam had said seemed to be correct, he figured that would be over there, probably lost. Sure enough, in said rom, there was a lost-looking teenager wearing slightly-too-big uniform and holdng his map upside-down.

"Hey! Are you ?" Vaati asked, though the question sounded more like a bossy demand.

"Yes, your majesty!" replied the teenager, straightening his back slightly and saluting.

"Give me that map!" Ordered Vaati, "And the top tower is up several flights of stairs over that way!"

The recruit handed him the map and set off in the direction Vaati had pointed to -with the king's hand, obviously- to go to the top tower and meet Captain Lucy there.

Vaati thought about where the other recruits might be. Including the underground floors, the castle had a total of five floors. This meant that there were five recruits, each with a map to a different floor, one of which Vaati had found already. The map Vaati had gained was of the first floor, the one he was on right now. He then turned his thoughts to what he knew about the recruits. He knew one of the remaining four was Milly Lisan (he supposed the mail-man was fast around here) and that, according to the situation Serious Sam had told him about, she was at least sensible... but that was just about it.

The sorcerer pretending to be the king sighed in annoyance and decided to look around the other floors and ask around about the other recruits.

A couple of hours later...

Vaati stopped for lunch at the dining room, having found a few leads but was unfortunately not that much closer to actually tracking down the recruits. Thinking about the leads he had, he tried to come up with a conclusion of sorts.

* * *

Right about then, Sielema woke up in the dungeon cell, very cross, very determined to get rid of the impostor, and quite frankly a bit hungry too. However, this cat wasn't about to me stopped by something as measly as being locked up... but first, the albino-coloured cat thought she must have missed something very, very important in the festival that year.

The reason why she hadn't been there, you see, was because Sielema wasn't particularly sociable and preferred her own company to that of random people, a few travellers, their oh-so-annoying animal companions and all that noisy music. Upon discovering that the princess was now a stone statue, Sielema had promised herself that she would do everything in her power to take whoever did it _down._

Right now, though, she was pushing an empty crate out of the way with her body. The cat continued to carefully walk out of the cat-sized tunnel that led out of the dungeons and out into the kitchen- the space beneath the kitchen sink, to be exact. There, the cook and that-nice-lady-Sielema-couldn't-remember-the-name-of were worridly talking about the fake-king.

"...and then he hit poor Sielema on the head with a frying pan and left, dragging her by the tail!" finished the cook, dramatically waving her wooden spoon around.

Sielema quietly purred with pleasure. She'd done it. Everybody knew the king _loves_ her!

"You're right... his majesty _loves_ his cat!" gasped the lady -wasn't her name 'Mrs Thaip'?- in shock. "Well, then it has to be Vaati in some sort of foul magical disguise!"

"Vaati..? You can't be serious..!? That evil sorcerer who turned the princess to stone... here in Hyrule Castle?! We have to warn everybody and STAY AWAY from the 'king' at all costs! Nobody stands a chance against that purple magician!" concluded the cook.

"Good idea... Let's hope a hero shows up or something... or maybe Captain Lucy or Serious Sam could help sort this out..? I'm going to go and warn people now." finished Mrs Thaip -that was her name, right?- before walking out of the room.

Sielema hissed in annoyance. All these people were so WEAK-WILLED that her effort to expose this minish-magician-called-Vaati were for naught! _(Fine.)_ she thought, _(Play it that way, Destiny. I shall beat that impostor myself! After all... they don't call me the 'Royal Albino Phantom Guard Cat with the Heart of Fire' for nothing...)_

A dangerous ember seemed to glow in the cat's orangey-red eyes as she resolved to keep that promise she'd made to herself.

* * *

After a bit of a wild goose chase, as they say, Vaati now had exactly... two maps. He had just decided to go to the top tower himself and wait for the recruits to (hopefully) show up when he quite suddednly heard the king's voice in his consciousness once more.

 _("VAATI! I TOLD YOU TO STOP THIS!")_ yelled the king.

 _("Here we go again...")_ sighed Vaati in his mind.

 _("I think... I think you ought to listen to him.")_ added the somewhat-timid voice.

 _("Psh. We should just beat him again! That'll be fun.")_ sneered the malevolent voice.

 _("Fun? We won't have time to knock him out every two seconds. We have approximately five and a half days to prepare. Link is coming. Deal with the king for good, wether it is by violence or kindness.")_ Pointed out the third voice, the emotionless, calculative voice.

Hearing their voices before had made Vaati feel confused, trying to agree with them all. But the more they had spoken, the less 'Vaati' they had seemed to be. They didn't seem like his perception of himself, so they seemed more separate... especially after the incident involving _That Cat_... they were... ANNOYING.

 _("ALL OF VAATI, STOP THIS! IT'S CROWDED!")_ shouted the king.

 _(" ALL OF YOU, BE QUIET!_ _")_ bellowed Vaati over the top of all of those voices.

Once again, he closed the king's physical eyes and opened his own in his black consciousness of nothingness... except, as the king had so obviously stated earlier, it _was_ a bit more crowded in here.

Especially as there were now THREE other Vaatis, one with neither cloak nor hat and a pink-red eye, one with only the cloak and a blood-red eye with an aqua-green pupil, and the last one with both the cloak and the hat who had bright, laughing iridescent blood-red eyes and a pure black mist surrounding him.

Vaati looked from the other hims to the befuddled and annoyed king then back again. There was instant quiet.

"There's now four of me?" asked Vaati (the original)

"It is rather a complex matter. We should talk AFTER someone has dealt with the king-" replied the emotionless voice... the 'Vaati?' with the cloak but no hat.

 _BANG!_ "I'm _way_ ahead of all of you." cut in the malevolent voice... the 'Vaati?' with the odd black mist following him around. This form was twirling a magical frying pan in his left fingers and smirking over the knocked-out form of the king.

The original Vaati turned to look at all the others in turn... then he forcefully asked "WHAT is going on here?!"

The calculative one turned to answer. "We are essentially the voices in your mind. However... hmmm... you messing with spiritual magic and coming here caused your simple logic to react. The situation with _That CAT_ -" every form of Vaati shuddered "-put you in a situation in which your conflicting emotions would bring us all back up again... or at least these two." he pointed to the timid one and the malevolent one. "Due to that, and your coming here, your own logic would not allow the existence of disembodied voices. So what else would you see us as physically but ghostly, altered versions of yourself?"

It made sense and though something about the explanation didn't quite fit, Vaati wasn't too worried about knowing right now anyway.

"Well then..." said Vaati, "From now on, I'll call you-" he pointed to the malevolent one, "-Mal, short for Malevolent, you-" he pointed to the timid one, "-Timi, short for Timid, and you-" he pointed to the calculative one, "-Calcus, short for Calculative. Obviously, I am in charge here and YOU can all be QUIET, right?"

The others looked at one another.

"Things don't usually work like that..." pointed out Timi, but Vaati wasn't having any of it.

"How about I get to be in charge? Then I -you?- can REALLY start actually GOING somewhere with this whole, 'get the light force' thing. Seriously, ALL you REALLY have to do is get rid of the kid and take the elements before he gets the chance to use the sacred sword against you. And we STILL need to get some revenge on the -heh heh heh- HAT and that village..." Suggested Mal, "Why faff around trying to keep them all a-"

"NOBODY is going to DIE!" yelled Vaati at him, suddenly getting bad feelings about these three... "Now I have some things to be doing so you should all NOT BOTHER ME." with that, Vaati left the consciousness.

* * *

"Spoilsport." grumbled Mal.

"Calcus... why didn't you tell Vaati the _true_ reason as to how we exist?" asked Timi. The other spirit form looked away into the endless nothingness.

"Because we cannot tell him for as long as he doesn't accept it himself." replied the emotionless 'voice'.

* * *

Opening the king's eyes once more, Vaati continued on his way to the top tower. If he was going to have to deal with... with... essentially three more personas of himself... but then, that idea was a little unsettling in itself... How did they even get there?! Something about that explanation really was a bit off... regardless, he figured they could all be quiet while he got on with his life.

...but still, it was unsettling that a certain persona would run away from anything, a certain persona would try to kill people and a certain persona would... would... what? Err... be completely emotionless? It was confusing. Vaati simply couldn't get his mind off the subject...

So that was what he was in deep thought about as he made his way to the top tower of Hyrule Castle. Until he was interrupted by someone trying to get his attention.

"Umm... excuse me, your majesty, but I'm lost..." began one of the new recruits from behind him. Vaati was relieved, to say the least, that one of them had just shown up like that.

"Just give me that map." cut in Vaati, "The top tower is up the set of stairs over that way."

...So now he had three maps.

* * *

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned the cook to I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim as said soldier got a drink from the kitchen.

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned I-Insist,-Call-Me-Tim to Beverage Ben somewhere on the fifth floor of the castle.

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned Beverage Ben to J-Parker and Serious Sam while passing them on the fourth floor of the castle.

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned J-Parker to another new recruit somewhere on the fourth floor.

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned Serious Sam to everyone he passed around Hyrule Town.

"Stay away from the king, he's Vaati in disguise!" warned Wheaton to Mira Lisan when she came into Wheaton and Pita's bakery for a snack.

Mira raised an eyebrow and replied, "Well, I'd better go tell Smith about this..."

So, while going to Smith's House, nearly everyone now aware of the bad news, Mira just sighed inwardly at the attitude of people around here. Relying on some old legend the second some amateur 'bad guy' showed up and caused a bit of trouble. It wasn't as if the actually dangerous monsters were being trained into an army or something. In fact, she was almost positive the whole ruckus was one big mistake! Ahh, there was Smith's house. She knocked on the door and filled Smith in about the news.

"WHAT?!" gasped Smith in shock, standing outside his house. "VAATI?! Pretending to be King Daltus?!" What was that sorcerer up to now?! "THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO GO AND FIGHT THAT MAGICIAN WHILE I KNOW WHERE HE IS!"

"Honestly..." sighed Mira, shaking her head, "If you're going to go and fight that sorcerer you'll need backup. He truly can be a powerful foe... I'm coming too!"

So that was how Mira and Smith ended up making their way to the castle... soon having to negotiate with the guards keeping everyone out of the castle for 'safety reasons'. They weren't being very reasonable...

* * *

Finally up at the top tower, Vaati was surprised to see that nobody was there. Instead, there was a note on the table in the middle with messy handwriting on it that read, 'If you're one of the recruits, you've MISSED the meeting. Too bad. I'll be at the dungeons with Milly, the only one who actually made it here! -Captain Lucy.'

He just teleported there. Hopefully he'd find the fourth map.

The first thing Vaati noticed down there was that Sielema had escaped. The second thing was how empty it was. Something wasn't right... surely people hadn't seen through his disguise already? However, on another nearby table there was a map and another note. The map was of the third floor and had a large red cross on it. The note read, 'Meet over here for some training on TEAMWORK. -Captain Lucy.'

The sorcerer decided to wait here for the last recruit to show up so he could get the last map already. In the meantime, his thoughts inevitably wandered back to the other personas. As his thoughts wandered to them, the voices seemed to come back.

 _("What is he going to do once he has all those maps anyway? Make a giant death-trap especially made to stop that kid! Why not just go and take the elements already?!")_ Mal complained.

 _("So would you go into the cold, wet, deep depths of Lake Hylia?")_ replied Calcus, emotionless as always. He seemed to really actually consider the terrifying idea...

Either way, that seemed to make Mal be quiet. It was odd how Vaati could hear them when he wanted to. Now that he came to think about it, he wasn't completely feeling like himself after the cat incident. At the same time, this new, somewhat lighter feeling felt good.

It wasn't much longer before the recruit showed up and Vaati finally got that final map. Merging all the maps into one, he teleported back to the king's chamber again and stonified the king once more before writing down what had happened today in his diary. Taking a rest couldn't hurt, after all Vaati did need his sleep.

However, he did hear Timi, or at least a voice he assumed to be Timi, talking loud and clear again as he drifted off to sleep... _("To forget... is a sad thing...")_


End file.
